Dover ready for Easter Monday meet

Some of the country’s top drivers have been confirmed for next Monday’s much-anticipated race meet at the Dover raceway in St Ann.

Forty-four drivers and 23 riders have been confirmed for the meet, which will see the return of competitive racing at Dover for the first time since 2019.

Kyle Gregg, the defending overall champion from 2019, and Nicholas Barnes, the MP1 champion, are two of the top drivers who have entered the competition. Others include Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore, William Myers, Collin Daley Jr and Ricardo Scott.

Junior Barnes, chairman of the Jamaica Race Drivers Club, told The Gleaner that work on the preparation of the Dover facility has gone extremely well and they are now eagerly awaiting a very exciting championship on Monday.

“The preparations are in full swing, because we are redoing our electrical and water systems completely,” said Barnes.

“We have redone the bathrooms and toilets to accommodate our patrons better, and we will be doing more upgrading on the facility,” he said.

“Our timing has been checked, and we have all our marshalls, all our scrutineers, and all our daily workers in place, because we have been working tirelessly to ensure that everybody will be comfortable when they come to Dover on Monday,” Barnes said.

The veteran administrator pointed out that the drivers have been practising on the track for several months and therefore, everyone is looking forward to a very exciting championship.

“The drivers have been practising because we have a track day every first Saturday and Sunday of the month, and they have been supporting it, and we also have drivers practising throughout the week,” said Barnes.

“After two and half years, they are elated, and they are happy that we are the first organisation to host a race in Jamaica. We have waited patiently,” he added. Barnes stated that his organisation has been given permission to host 24,000 spectators and therefore, they will be maintaining their COVID-19 guidelines at the event.

“We will be enforcing the COVID-19 protocols, and so people should sanitise, social distance and wear their masks,” he said.

“We are on 40 acres of land, so you are going to be safe. We will have eight different COVID-19 booths where you can sanitise, and if you don’t have a mask, we will provide one at no cost,” Barnes said.

AMSOIL and 24KARAT are the main sponsors of the championships.