History of motor racing in Guyana by Avery Gomes.

A Legacy of Speed by Avery Gomes, part 2.

50 years of Motor Racing in Guyana. A Brief History of the Sport by Avery Gomes.

Racing - late `50s, early `60s
1958 saw the start-line moved to the back-straight, near the pits [roughly where the Dunlop Bridge was to be built later]. The Surinam Team arrived for the first time that year with their modified mopeds and did well. There was also tragedy in 1958 -Ray Chabrol, a larger-than-life character and road & track dare-devil, perished in a road accident. He is still spoken of with great reverence by the older folks around.
Up to 1960 the smaller 2-stroke motor-cycles ruled the track with a string of wins by Johnny Terrill on his Husquarna. This run was only broken when a more sophisticated 4-stroke Ducati, in the hands of the Holders, arrived on the scene, but it wasn't easy and they had to battle the wizardry of Terrill on his screaming 2-stroke. It is said that the first-lady racer appeared around that time Ms. Young hitched up her skirts to race her SOcc Itom in the L.P.A. [moped] class. Small though they were the mopeds managed a good 5Omph those days.
In 1960 Japan "arrived" on the Motor Racing scene with the advanced 4-stroke Hondas, and in British Guiana they also made their presence felt. Johnny Terrill switched to Honda and used his 250 to beat the old 350cc and 500 cc BSAs and Nortons. A 250cc 2-stroke Bultaco appeared briefly, but was not well-prepared or well-ridden; yes! 4strokes were back!
Between 1962 - 1964 British Guiana found itself in deep civil unrest, with motor sport at a low ebb. Around the end of '64 the Courtesy Car Club finally put on a semipublic event, again driving tests at South Dakota but, this time, with a two-lap car race at the end of the meeting. This caught the eye of the BGMCC and a merger was proposed. The CCC quickly agreed as interest was fading and its members wanted to go track racing.

Courtesy Car Club
Also in 1957 a group of motor-cars enthusiasts formed the Courtesy Car Club - holding their own events for members only. They included driving tests and speed tests

Team Suriname in 1958 on Mopeds that manage 50 mph.

The Courtesy Car Club Started car racing in '57

The BGMRA emerges
So in 1964 the British Guiana Motor Racing Association (BGMRA) was formed. Eric Vieira was President with Hilary Jardine, Joey King, Clive Bettencourt-Gomes, Stanley Gomes and Jimmy Thompson filling out the executive of the new club. Work then began in earnest to improve South Dakota - the Clubhouse was built that year (1964) and the following year (1965) the centre was cleared and the Dunlop Bridge built by the then Dunlop agents, Central Garage to access this new spectator area. The pits were over on the backstraight near the start/finish line under the Dunlop Bridge.

1965 was the turning point for the sport; the BGMRA held the first combined (cars & bikes) meeting on Sunday, 28`h March 1965, with the same format followed today. According to a "New World Magazine" article of 1965 by Joey King, it saw the first foreign Invasion" (from the Caribbean).
Joey wrote: ". . .. Gene Poole, an American Ace living in Trinidad brought a 350cc Honda and a 650 BSA Rocket, Da Costa Jones a Triumph Tiger 100 (he raced in Guyana from '65 -'70, retired in 1970 then was killed in a road accident in November 1972). Hilary Jardine, formerly of BG then living in T&T, rode a BSA 650. From Barbados came Bobby Gill in a Ford Cortina MKI GT and Errol Ten-Pow (then resident in Barbados?) on a 350cc Honda. There was no racetrack in Barbados then but Bobby was their best having won the Barbados Rally more than once."

And on Race Day: ...A huge crowd turned out to see young Joe Vieira win both SOca races. Frank Van Sertima lead the first lap of the first SOcc event then had a series of falls. He withdrew from further contention. In the 250cc race "old" maestro J. Terrill sporting the first fibreglass fairing on his Honda won, with Errol Ten-Pow also on a Honda second. The SOOcc Roy Chabrol Memorial Trophy race saw the first Terrill/DaCosta Jones clash. Terrill had a poor start and couldn't catch Jones who won riding well for a stranger to South Dakota.

J. Terrill turned the tables, winning the unlimited capacity race from a slipstreaming Tommy Maycock. Errol Ten-Pow was third. In the 350cc event Maycock got off to a flying start and Terrill failed to catch him. Ten-Pow was third again.

The final event was another Terrill/Jones clash. Terrill got his usual bad start and Jones won again. Maycock was second and Terrill a distant third. Terrill chased Maycock hard and had closed in by the end of the race. Ironically his clutch failed in the final turn of the gooseneck and he fell heavily. Maycock finished 2nd and "Puck" Da Camara was third. The meeting ended with two car races. The first" up to 1300cc" event was won by Clive Bettencourt-Gomes in a Downtown Austin 1100 - he lead from the second lap and lapped all but the second place car.

Bobbette's highly-tuned Imp did not run. The final car race was for combined sports/saloons up to 2000cc. The Saloons started first, with Bobby Gill leading followed by Maurice Cyrus (Vauxhall VX490) and Bettencourt-Gomes (Austin 1100). Joey King (Mercedes Benz 190SL) and Bunny Elphage (TR4) started 8 seconds and 40 seconds later respectively. At the end J. King lost power and fell back among the back markers Cyrus and BettencourtGomes. Elphage chased Gill and caught him, only to be baulked by a back marker, losing by a few seconds." The report never mentions what happened to Eric Vieira at that meeting, only that the crowd was uncontrollable, invading the track a number of times and causing events to be stopped. On their way down they created the longest traffic jam ever seen in BG!


Nov.'66 - John Brierley gives Joey King the checkered flag ahead of Bobby Go-Cool under the Dunlop Bridge built by Central Garage in 1965	March 1965: 50cc motorcycles await the starter's flag.

1965: And they're off! Johnny Terrill gets the jump on Da Costa Jones of T&T once.

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