Sunday, June 6th saw a return to road racing at Southside after a year-long halt due to the global pandemic. It was a great start to the season with new riders taking to the track for the first time, a brand new class, and some intense high speed action from the BMRA’s veterans.
Neveah Edwards, newcomer to the series and running in the Minibike Junior class, raced hard as he competed alongside experienced racers on larger bikes within a multi-class grid. For his first race day, Edwards was already showing great promise and dedication to the sport.
The Scooter Mart KTM 125 class made its debut in the series. Race 1 saw a fierce battle between Jediah Cumbermack and Aiden Lopes leading the pack, with Cumbermack eventually edging Lopes out. Races 2 and 3 shifted with Lopes checking out on the rest of the field from the start to charge ahead creating a large margin between him and the other racers, which made way for wins in both races. Cumbermack and Norre Robinson repeatedly traded positions in Races 2 and 3 with some notable hooks throughout. Larson Burchall debuted alongside the KTM class on his Suzuki 125 and had a great run until a spill in Race 3 while pushing to keep pace with the riders ahead. He managed to rejoin and finished in P4.
BMRA veterans took to the grid in the Scooter Matic and Scooter Open classes. Multiple scooters are still being built off track but the bikes that did come out carved out some of the fastest laps of the day.
Hall of Famer, Edward Cook, came out of retirement – yet again – to have some fun on his 4-stroke machine. Alongside him in the Scooter Open class was his teammate Marcus Pimentel on his 100cc 2-stroke Piaggio Zip. Veteran Jeneko Place raced on his 220cc 4-stroke Piaggio Zip, which is now approved to compete in the Scooter Matic 70 class.
Race 1 saw Cook rocket off the line, with Place and Pimentel fighting to make up ground. Cook appeared to have an issue around lap 5 but maintained his lead until the checkered flag. Pimentel suffered a poor start but was able to close in on Place around lap 3 where they battled until Place ran into some mechanical issues. Place came back stronger in Race 2 where Cook remained untouchable to take easy wins in Races 2 and 3. Some of the best racing of the day came from Pimentel and Place’s battles in Races 2 and 3. Place took the lead over Pimentel in Race 2 to secure second place. Race 3 began with a bit of drama as Place suffered a mechanical issue that forced a restart, afterwhich Pimentel made a comeback until he had his own mechanical issue and decided to bow out of the race to save his machine.
The Bermuda Drag Racing Association ran their first races of the season as part of the BMRA’s opening race day where Michael Soares was the overall winner with his Yamaha Mio 240cc with Edward Cook as his rider. Rick Vesley, owner of the Yamaha Cygnus 215cc, took second overall with Marcus Pimentel as his rider. Aiden Lopes took third overall on Cook’s Yamaha Cygnus 150cc. All three bikes were run by Team Amsoil/Team Scooter Plus.
The drag strip is 660 feet long (? of a mile) with the series confirming that more drag bikes are currently being built so they look forward to having more bikes and riders join them at the next race day on Sunday, June 20th.
Anyone interested in entering a bike into the drag race series can contact the Bermuda Drag Racing Association on Facebook or visit www.bmra.bm for more information. Riders interested in joining the circuit racing series can also register interest via the BMRA’s website. A rental bike program is available for junior riders that have come through the BMRA’s riding clinic program to allow for a cost-effective entry point to begin their young racing journeys. Entries are also open for all other race classes, which can be found at the website listed.
Race Results:
Race 1
Minibike Junior
1. Neveah Edwards #567
ScooterMart KTM 125 stock class
1. Jediah Cumbermack #93
2. Aiden Lopes #11
3. Norre Robinson #77
4. Larson Burchall #17
Scooter Matic
1. Jeneko Place #110
Scooter Open
1. Edward Cook #77
2. Marcus Pimentel #27
Race 2
Minibike Junior
1. Neveah Edwards #567
Scooter Mart KTM 125 Class
1. Aiden Lopes #11
2. Jediah Cumbermack #93
3. Norre Robinson #77
4. Larson Burchall #17
Scooter Matic
1. Jeneko Place #110
Scooter Open
1. Marcus Pimentel #27
2. Edward Cook #77
Race 3
Minibike Junior
1. Neveah Edwards #567
Scooter Mart KTM 125 Class
1. Aiden Lopes #11
2. Jediah Cumbermack #93
3. Norre Robinson #77
4. Larson Burchall #17
Scooter Matic
1. Jeneko Place #110
Scooter Open
1. Edward Cook #77
DNF: Marcus Pimentel #27
Drag Races (overall position)
1. Michael Soares (rider: Edward Cook)
2. Rick Vesley (rider: Marcus Pimentel)
3. Edward Cook (rider: Aiden Lopes)
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