Summerbell and Maloney inaugural Suzuki Champions

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David Summerbell Jnr and Sean Maloney are Champions of the Swift Cup and SR3 Cup respectively. Each left the best until last, having sat in third place going into the final double-header at Bushy Park Barbados on Saturday (October 17), as the Summer Season of the inaugural Suzuki Challenge Series came to a dramatic floodlit conclusion.

Multiple Jamaican Champion Summerbell (Team Simpson Finance) added two Swift Cup race wins to his three from earlier rounds, one each before and after nightfall, placing second in two more of the day's six races, to amass sufficient points to claim the title, despite his first zero score for the season, in round six, race two. Meanwhile, his finish one place behind teenage daughter Samantha (Team Suzuki) in round five, race two, will surely be a topic of discussion at family gatherings for some years to come.

Ryan Peyrau (Team Suzuki) and Mark Thompson (Team Rock Hard Cement) were each ahead of Summerbell in the standings before the final, but endured a race day to forget. Series leader since round two, Trinidad & Tobago's Peyrau, had three race wins and three consecutive pole positions to his credit; he qualified only fifth on Saturday, the start of a disappointing day, with third place in round five, race one, his best result.

From first-round leader Thompson's perspective, things were even worse, losing fourth place in round five, race one, to a penalty, then struggling to find his form for the rest of the day. Peyrau and Thompson slipped to third and fourth in the final reckoning behind an inspired Daryl Clarke. The Team Digicel driver claimed his first Swift Cup pole position on the final lap of qualifying, then logged five podium finishes out of six, including two race wins (it would have been three, but for a penalty in round five, race one) to leapfrog into second place, 18 points behind Summerbell, while bringing the total of race-winners to six in the 18 races.

Two wins went to Clarke's team-mate Ryan Wood, bringing his total for the season to three, while Clarke followed him over the Joker Lap on the last lap of round six, race two, for a Team Digicel one-two. Others to shine included: Jason Parkinson (Team Infra Rentals), whose solid results lifted him to seventh; Paul Bourne (Team ICBL), who scored points in all six races, including a fine second in round five, race two; Samantha Summerbell, who put the experience gained in round four to good use, finishing five of the day's six races in the points, with a best result of sixth, having run in a confident third place until just after half-distance.

In the SR3 Cup for Suzuki-powered Radical sports racers, qualifying and race lap record-holder Sean Maloney was in unbeatable form, at least in the first four races of the day. Having qualified second to brother Mark for round five, race one, he rocketed into a lead he was not to lose, closing the gap in the title chase. Series leader pre-weekend, Stuart Maloney looked set to reassert himself in round five, race two, until a mistake two corners from home handed Sean a second victory, with David Simpson claiming a career-best second place.

By now leading the Series standings, Sean sealed the deal, leading every lap of the first two races run under floodlights, putting him more than 20 points ahead of Mark, who had also moved ahead of Stuart, thanks to two seconds and two thirds. Stuart won round six, race two, briefly moving ahead of Mark in the points, but slipped back to third after the final race, a determined Mark Maloney snatching victory on the last lap on a day in which the shortened race distances for the SR3 Cup created some of the closest competition of the season, particularly once night had fallen.

Experienced Guyanese racer Mark Vieira, who had enjoyed his best weekend of a steadily improving season at the previous round, was not in luck on Saturday, two podium finishes in six races a disappointing end to the year, fourth in the standings. Simpson added a further podium finish to his second place in round five, race two, to move into fifth in the year-end points table, ahead of Ryan Gonsalves of St Vincent & The Grenadines.

Suzuki Challenge Series, round 5 (October 17)

Swift Cup Race 1: 1st David Summerbell Jnr - JAM (Team Simpson Finance); 2nd Daryl Clarke (Team Digicel); 3rd Ryan Peyrau – T&T (Team Suzuki); 4th Jason Parkinson (Team Infra Rentals); 5th Josh Read (Team Massy United Insurance); 6th Kurt Thompson (Team Glassesco); 7th Kenrick Husbands (Team Williams Industries); 8th Samantha Summerbell - JAM (Team Suzuki); 9th Mark Thompson (Team Rock Hard Cement); 10th Paul Bourne (Team ICBL); 11th Ryan Wood (Team Digicel) Race 2: 1st Wood; 2nd Bourne; 3rd Parkinson; 4th Read; 5th Clarke; 6th S Summerbell; 7th D Summerbell; 8th M Thompson; 9th Peyrau; 10th K Thompson; 11th Husbands Race 3: 1st D Summerbell; 2nd Parkinson; 3rd Clarke; 4th Wood; 5th Read; 6th Peyrau; 7th Bourne; 8th Husbands; 9th S Summerbell; 10th K Thompson; 11th M Thompson

SR3 Cup Race 1: 1st Sean Maloney; 2nd Mark Vieira - GUY; 3rd Mark Maloney; 4th David Simpson; 5th Stuart Maloney; 6th Doug Maloney; 7th Ryan Gonsalves – SVG Race 2: 1st Sean Maloney; 2nd Simpson; 3rd M Maloney; 4th Gonsalves; 5th Vieira; 6th Stuart Maloney; 7th D Maloney Race 3: 1st Sean Maloney; 2nd M Maloney; 3rd Vieira; 4th Stuart Maloney; 5th Simpson; 6th Gonsalves; 7th D Maloney

Suzuki Challenge Series, round 6 (October 17)

Swift Cup Race 1: 1st Clarke; 2nd D Summerbell; 3rd Husbands; 4th M Thompson; 5th Read; 6th Peyrau; 7th Parkinson; 8th K Thompson; 9th Bourne; 10th S Summerbell; 11th Wood Race 2: 1st Wood; 2nd Clarke; 3rd Read; 4th Parkinson; 5th Peyrau; 6th Husbands; 7th Bourne; 8th M Thompson; 9th K Thompson; 10th S Summerbell; 11th D Summerbell Race 3: 1st Clarke; 2nd D Summerbell; 3rd Read; 4th Wood; 5th M Thompson; 6th Husbands; 7th Parkinson; 8th Bourne; 9th K Thompson; 10th Peyrau; 11th S Summerbell

SR3 Cup Race 1: 1st Sean Maloney; 2nd M Maloney; 3rd Simpson; 4th Orry Hunte; 5th Vieira; 6th Gonsalves; 7th Stuart Maloney Race 2: 1st Stuart Maloney; 2nd M Maloney; 3rd Hunte; 4th Simpson; 5th Vieira; 6th Sean Maloney; 7th Gonsalves Race 3: 1st M Maloney; 2nd Stuart Maloney; 3rd Sean Maloney; 4th Hunte; 5th Gonsalves; 6th Vieira; 7th Simpson

Suzuki Challenge Series – Final Positions

Swift Cup: Champion D Summerbell 228 points; 2nd Clarke 210pts (*233pts); 3rd Peyrau 203pts (*222pts); 4th M Thompson 183pts (*189pts); 5th Wood 174pts (*194pts); 6th Read 163pts (*181pts); 7th Parkinson 142pts; 8th Husbands 108pts; 9th Barry Gale (Team Gale's Agro Products) 92pts; 10th K Thompson 66pts (*74pts); 11th Sean Gill (Team Suzuki) 46pts; 12th Bourne 41pts; 13th Karl Waterman (Team Williams Industries) 25pts; 14th S Summerbell 16pts; 15th Mark Kinch (Team ICBL) 12pts; 16th Jean-Philippe Mongaillard – FRA (Team Suzuki) 10pts

* lowest score discarded

SR3 Cup: Champion Sean Maloney 319 points; 2nd M Maloney 313pts; 3rd Stuart Maloney 303pts; 4th Vieira 244pts; 5th Simpson 167pts; 6th Gonsalves 149pts; 7th Allan Kinch 56pts; 8th Hunte 39pts; 9th K Thompson 26pts; 10th D Maloney 20pts; equal 11th Bradley Ellis - ENG & Simon Jean-Joseph - FRA 18pts; equal 13th Barry Gale & Jim Parr – USA 14pts

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