Samantha Summerbell at the wheel during a meet at Dover Raceway, St Ann.
Daryl King
Florida Winter Tour 2013 Rotax Jnr Champion Thomas Issa (centre) with second place Ashley Rogerio (left) and Kyle Kirkwood, who came in third on the podium in March this year.-Contributed
Dover 2013 champion, Andre Anderson. -File photos
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JMMC head names top motorsport performers for 2013
Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator
Fifteen-year-old Campion College schoolboy, Thomas Issa, has been named by website kartrank.com as the number-one junior karter in North America.
The ranking procedure is outlined on the website: "At kartrank, we use a unique computer model to determine driver rankings. This model runs a complex algorithm that determines the rankings of each driver based purely on the skill of each other driver that was beaten at the time of each race."
Peter Clarke, president of the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC), has also named Issa among his top Jamaican motorsport personalities for this year. "The others are top female Samantha Summerbell; Andre Anderson - circuit racing, and Daryl King - rally sport," Clarke told Automotives on Friday.
Clarke said he has invited Anderson and Issa, as the country's top senior and junior motorsport personalities respectively, to the Federation of International Automobile Americas (FIA) Award ceremony in Panama next month. The FIA affiliate represents North, Central and South America and Mexico. The two are expected to be recognised at the ceremony.
proud father
David Summerbell, Samantha's father, is very proud of his daughter's achievements in 2013. "Samantha has made us proud this year. I am very happy and looking forward to better things next year," a jubilant David told Automotives on Friday.
Samantha Summerbell's dream is to one day race in the Formula One series, competing against some of the world's top-notch drivers. Earlier this year, she was nominated as the Jamaican representative to the Young Driver Excellence Academy, which is a groundbreaking project to develop young talent worldwide. She is currently in upper sixth form at Hillel High.
"We are hopeful that she will advance. This is a great learning experience for her, competing against some of the top youngsters from across the world. Samantha is very smart and whatever she learns, she will share the knowledge with other youngsters here in Jamaica," David Summerbell said.
Christopher Issa, one of the stalwarts of motorsport in Jamaica, is very grateful for his son's achievements. However Peter Rae, local tuner and driving coach, stressed that it is gratifying to see the positive Thomas' growth.
"He has been stamping his name at international events," said Rae, who, in a recent interview, commented that Thomas has travelled many miles this year, covering several countries in Europe and the United States of America, developing his talent in karting.
The kartrank.com website reported that at the top of a highly competitive group, Thomas Issa showed what is possible even with a fewer number of races compared to his peers. Issa was very successful in the Florida Winter Tour, ending up on the podium four times. He also had good showings in the Rotax Summer Shootout and Rotax Grand Nationals at Moorseville Motorplex.