The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunmedia.net

MICKEL Willms and his black Maserati 200S was the envy of the fleet and the awe of the viewing public at the third annual Bahamas Speed Week Revival.

Over the weekend, Willms left the Arawak Cay as the toast of the two days of competition, having won both races on Saturday and Sunday in the Period Racing category. He was followed by Andreas Mohringer in his Ferrari.

“I think the circuit was very technical. It was not easy. For me, it was a big advantage. The car ran very well and she did everything that I wanted it to do,” he said. “We were very lucky that we survived. Hope to be back next year. It was absolutely a great event. So we will definitely come back for the sun, sand and sea and the environment is absolutely fantastic.”

There were four different classes that the vintage cars competed in. On Saturday, they participated in the Uphill Climb on Fort Charlotte and on Sunday they were featured in the pursuit sprint races around a designated course.

In the pre-war category, William Young and his Jaguar SS100 Replica beat out Richard Lisman in his OM on Saturday. However, Young was the only competitor to compete on Sunday.

“It’s been a fantastic week. I had an incredible time. It’s my first time doing it, but I can’t wait to come back,” Young said. “I enjoyed it. It was the most relaxed atmosphere that I’ve ever competed in. I want to really thank the marshals because they were sure that we were safe and relaxed. We had fun, but they made sure it was also safe.”

Nobody was safer competing than John Kane, who resides here with his Bahamian wife. Competing in the Lotus 7, Kane had to settle for second on Saturday behind Huge Bate in his Nissan GTR. Giles Ashe, competing in the Caterham 400, was third.

On Sunday, Kane reversed the order in the Mini Cooper as he beat out Pablo de Souza in his Excaliber JAC 427. Neils Jensen in his Shelby GT500 was third.

“The Mini Cooper was a surprise to me. I was competing in the Lotus as well,” Kane said. “The Mini Cooper really shocked me. I enjoyed the whole experience and hopefully they can continue bringing more people to the Bahamas and let’s get really rocking next year.”

Although the competition was intense on Sunday, organisers had almost a three-hour delay because the Junkanoo Corporation held the competition to decide which team will go out first for the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day junkanoo parades.

Jimmie Lowe, president of Bahamas Speed Week Revival, said they didn’t have any choice but to wait until Sunday morning to put down the fences and close off the road so they could utilise the makeshift racing track.

Despite the delay, Lowe said that they were still pleased that they were able to complete the programme they had scheduled and now they are looking forward to next year when the event is expected to be moved to the original site where vintage racing was held back in the 1960s.

This year’s patron was Derek Bell, the former multiple world champion. He was just as pleased with what he saw both from the organisers and the participants.

“I think it was better than I’ve ever seen it. I think everybody can agree with me that this was the best one so far,” said Bell, who went out and proved why he was the champion. “I thought it was fantastic and I think once we get on a real track, we will be able to do a lot more things.”

David McLaughlin, the chairman and event director, said the event was very good with more Bahamians mixing with the Germans, Swiss, Britons and Austrians, which is showing how it’s growing worldwide.

“We had some very nice cars, including two Ferraris, which are the best cars in the world,” he said. “So we’re ready to go and we had a good time in the driver’s lounge, so I think it was a great event. We can’t wait for next year.”

Another Bahamian who participated was Don Aranha in his Corvette. Aranha experienced some problems with his transmission and he wasn’t able to challenge the top contenders.

“It was good. It was good to race against the guys,” he said. “Most of the people that I spoke to, was impressed and they all want to come back to race next year. I think it’s good that we will be moving to the sports centre. To attract big names, you have to have the proper track facility.”