Radical Caribbean Cup set for action-packed start

Three former Champions will line up at Bushy Park Barbados on Sunday (March 15) on the largest grid yet assembled for an opening round of the Radical Caribbean Cup (RCC). All signs point towards an action-packed start to the regional championship's third season, as newcomers Zachary Boodram, Tobias Lutke and Raymond Seebarran bring to 41 the numbers of drivers who have competed in the Radical SR3s since the launch of the former Suzuki Challenge Series in 2015.

Of the five title-winners on the Cup's Roll of Honour, reigning RCC Champion Jamaica's William Myers is missing from Sunday's provisional entry list, along with Guyana's Kristian Jeffrey, who won seven races on his way to winning the 2016 Winter Championship. All three Barbadian Champions will be there, however: the 2018 regional Champion Stuart Maloney, Suleman Esuf (2016-17) and Sean Maloney (2015-16) have 47 race wins between them.

Stuart Maloney remains the only driver to have contested all 85 races run since 2015, while brothers Mark – 12 times a winner – and Sean have raced in 84 and 78 respectively. Sean's son Zane, the 2019 British F4 Champion, won five of his six Radical races last year in Barbados and Guyana, while Esuf returns to the Suzuki-powered Radicals for the first time since winning the Radical Carnival in 2018.

Also returning to race at Bushy Park is Britain's Brian Caudwell, who first competed there in 2016; with 14 races in the island under his belt, he has also been a winner – once – with three further podiums to his credit. With the new Radical Caribbean Nations Cup kicking off on Sunday, Caudwell will carry the weight of England's hopes on his shoulders, while newcomer Tobias Lutke is the first Canadian to compete in the series, bringing to 10 the number of countries to have been represented.

Lutke has four seasons of competitive track driving and racing behind him at Calabogie Motorsports Park in eastern Ontario, his home track, also at Mosport Park, which was Canada's first permanent racing facility. He has driven Audi RS3 LMS TCR, spec Mazda Miata and Radicals and will compete in the 2020 Canadian Touring Car Championship.

In Jeffrey's absence, the sole representative of Guyana is Raymond Seebarran, although he will race with T&T's Fast Parts team. Seebarran has won karting and Group 1 saloon car titles at home and has already been a race-winner at South Dakota this year in his Toyota Starlet. His team-mates Luke Bhola and Kristian Boodoosingh are both heading in to their third season in the regional series, ‘BoodooStig'; already a winner three times and third-place finisher last year behind Myers and Stuart Maloney.

While T&T newcomer Zachary Boodram has raced his Radical SR3 RSX at home on the Frankie Boodram International Raceway, named for his grandfather, this will be his first season in the regional series. With a background in karting, Formula 4 and saloon car racing, also with some experience of Bushy Park at the 2016 CMRC Race Meet, he should hit the ground running.

RCC Championship Manager Kurt Seabra said: “We are all excited for the start of the third season since we moved the series up to a regional level. With the added incentive of the Nations Cup, an extra point for fastest lap and our biggest grid full of previous Champions and race-winners, I think we are going to have an action-packed day.”

The first three races of 15 in the expanded 2020 calendar feature on the 10-race timetable of Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc's (BPMSI) first race meet of the season. After Practice and Qualifying, the 15-lap races will start from the southern grid, which promises some classic action.

Round 1 - March 15, Bushy Park Barbados

Provisional entry list

14    Suleman Esuf - BAR (Express Imports Inc/Prosales/Y Esuf Auto Clinic Radical SR3 RSX)

16    Stuart Maloney - BAR (Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

17    Kristian Boodoosingh - T&T (CR Boodoosingh & Sons/Fast Parts/Torco Race Fuels/Richtune/Garage 61/TechPoint Tuning Radical SR3 RSX)

22    Sean Maloney - BAR (Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

31    Zane Maloney - BAR (Suzuki/Bushy Park Barbados/Rock Hard Cement/Sol Radical SR3 RS)

46    Zachary Boodram - T&T (Shell Ultra Lubricants/FT Farfan/DHL Trinidad Radical SR3 RSX)

66    Brian Caudwell - ENG (Radical SR3 RS)

72    Raymond Seebarran - GUY (Fast Parts/Garage 61/CR Boodoosingh & Sons/Richtune/Techpoint Tuning/Bhola's Marketing/Adon/HB4 Tuning/Shaz Automotive/Ray's One Stop Auto Parts Radical SR3 RS)

86    Mark Maloney - BAR (Rock Hard Cement/Bushy Park Barbados Radical SR3 RS)

888   Luke Bhola - T&T (Bholas Marketing/Fast Parts/Torco Race Fuels/Richtune/Garage 61/TechPoint Tuning Radical SR3 RS)

tbc   Tobias Lutke - CAN (Radical SR3 RS)

Radical Caribbean Cup 2020

Round 1 – March 15, Bushy Park Barbados (BPMSI)

Round 2 – June 28, Frankie Boodram International Raceway, Wallerfield, Trinidad (TTASA)

Round 3 – July 19, Frankie Boodram International Raceway, Wallerfield, Trinidad (TTASA)

Round 4 – August 29/30, Bushy Park Barbados (BPMSI)

Round 5 - November 7/8, South Dakota, Guyana (GMR&SC)

Editor's Note

The Radical Caribbean Cup is administered by Bushy Park Circuit Inc (BPCI), which was appointed sole distributor for Radical Sportscars in the Caribbean in 2017; based in the East Midlands city of Peterborough, the British manufacturer has built more than 2,000 cars, progressing from the iconic Clubsport model produced in 1997 and which established the company's reputation, to the SR8, which brought Le Mans Prototype pace to the UK national racing scene. Running to the same rules that have applied in Barbados since the launch of the former Suzuki Challenge Series in 2015, the Radical Caribbean Cup is a one-make series for the Suzuki-powered Radical SR3 and does not cater for the Radicals of different specifications that are now racing in the region.