Junior Hydes has raced many times in Jamaica. However the motorsports legend saved his best effort for this year.
Recently Hydes earned three top five finishes at the Caribbean Invasion circuit race. The meet took place during Jamaica’s Independence Day holiday weekend at Dover Raceway in St. Ann’s Bay and is part of the 2011 Caribbean Circuit Championship.
Hydes brandished his overhauled yellow 1995 Mitsubishi Evolution III to grab fifth and fourth place in the Modified Production class as well as the fifth spot in the Thundersport group. He was part of a field of at least 25 drivers for each race and went against legends in circuit racing such as David Summerbell and Doug ‘Hollywood’ Gore.
Hydes spoke about his experience at Dover.
“I’ve been doing this for three years and to get this far I’m so ecstatic,” Hydes said. “Racing at Dover presents a huge learning curve. You can’t come in and dominate. It don’t work like that unless you buy a US$200,000 car like Doug Gore. I understand he spent a minimum of US$500,000 on his new car (a V8 Audi TT). The rest of us have to go through the learning curves.
“For example I had my gearbox break in one race. I have a five-speed transmission and I only had second gear. Then the hose for the waste-gate of the turbo broke and I went from running 32 pounds of boost to 15 pounds. Another time my temperature was high and the radiator was off because the fluid wasn’t topped off.
“Ultimately nothing major happened to the car. I’m tremendously pleased with the way the car turned out.”
Hydes was supported by a race team that features over 20 people. At the core of the group is local businessman Tony Williams, Cayman racer Andy Bodden, motorsports figure Jerry Holness and Junior’s brother Ray Hydes. There are also numerous mechanics helping Hydes including brother Troy Hydes and racer Kenrick ‘Banks’ Baker. Hydes states expectations are measured for the next race.
“The next one will not be perfection. It’s called racing, not winning. You will not be flawless as there is always some little thing you can improve. But we will be more prepared. I’m expecting better results as we’re working on the car’s suspension and the boost piping.”
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