Nichola Beckford/Contributor

The Jamaica Simulation Racing Association’s (JSRA) first event for the year, which took place on January 14, has been branded a success.

“Our national qualifiers for our upcoming Colombia versus Caribbean sim racing friendly posted our highest viewership to date, which is amazing given the short time that we had to put everything together,” said Stephen Stewart, president of the JSRA.

The event had 14 of Jamaica’s top sim racers battling it out across two races – a standard grid and a reverse grid race. The pool of drivers was divided into two separate groups, at which point the top three finishers in each were combined into one last winner-takes-all race.

NOTICEABLE PARTICIPATION

“This all started last year when we took part in our first ever international sim racing competition, the Monaco Sim Racing World Cup,” explained Stewart.

While Jamaica didn’t progress beyond the regional stage, its participation was noticed by other sim racing federations.

“We had to hold a national qualifier to choose the two drivers that were going to represent the country in Monaco, and we had to stream it live. We did. Much to our surprise it was a hit, setting up our relationship with SportsMax. That event also put Jamaica on the sim racing world stage as many were surprised just to know that our country was even into sim racing. From that moment, cooperation with the various federations around us started to happen and we began planning what we could for 2023,” said Stewart.

Colombia versus Caribbean national qualifier is the first of many such events planned by the JSRA for the year, as the three winners, Kurt Moss, MarcAnthony Eaton and Michael Paisley will move on to the friendly scheduled for Saturday, February 4.

“It was an entertaining race but, even I was surprised by the views at the end of the night. I just have to thank SportsMax for having the faith in our product to stream it live on their App, which gives it a greater platform than we could have on our own,” the JSRA president said.

FROM RC CARS TO VIRTUAL RACECARS

Moss, Eaton, and Paisley will combine forces with two other Caribbean nations to take on Colombia at the next event. Three drivers each from Trinidad and Guyana create a total of nine Caribbean drivers, while Colombia provides three of their best for 12 racers to take to the virtual track.

Moss, a Jamaican living overseas, made the move from RC cars to virtual racecars during COVID-19 pandemic as the only way to get his racing fix without leaving home.

“Like any good competition, the hope is to be able to win. However, I just want to give a good showing, have some clean racing, and represent Jamaica as best as I can,” said Moss.

If the name Eaton sounds familiar, that’s because MarcAnthony and his father Guy have a long history in Jamaican karting. MarcAnthony, despite being an absolute rookie at sim racing, having only started in December 2022, has made an explosive start so far.

“When I heard about the JSRA I was immediately interested and went to the centre to give driving on the simulator a try. Once I realized I was able to get the same adrenalin rush as my karting days, I’ve pretty much been addicted to it,” said MarcAnthony.

NO DOUBTING TALENT

Paisley is another name known to those in karting circles.

“My aim is to give it my all and put my focus towards getting a good result for my country in the friendly. Even if I cannot win the event, I will make sure that with teamwork, myself and my team-mates can grab as many points as we can,” said Paisley.

“I have little doubt in the talent that we put forward. All the drivers had put on a show for the fans, but those three were just the cream of the crop. We have a few weeks ahead to practice, so it will be an even greater race,” said Stewart.