Sharma and Trinidad win Nations Cup at Bushy Park

Trinidad and Tobago won the BMF OK-J Development Series Nations Cup at Bushy Park at the weekend (August 15-17), while hosts Barbados prevailed in a tough battle with Jamaica for second. T&T’s Alex Sharma was the individual Champion, with four race wins, Zak Mayers won the other two to finish second, while Sharma’s consistent team-mate Abishek Ramdeen was third.

  Administered by the Barbados Motoring Federation (BMF), the Nations Cup followed three editions of the Caribbean Junior Karting Academy Trophy (CJKAT), in 2019, 2022 and 2023, funded by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile’s (FIA) Sport Grant Programme. Daniel Coen, FIA Vice-President for Sport - North America, was in the island, impressed that this weekend’s entry brought to more than 40 the number of karters aged between 11 and 16 years who have hosted by the competition.

  The three-day meeting, organised by the Barbados Karting Association (BKA), opened on Friday, when drivers selected their karts for the weekend, then spent two hours in Free Practice, picking up some tips from ‘The Boy from Barbados’, 2022 FIA Rookie of the Year Zane Maloney, who started his career with the BKA at Old Bushy Park.

  Each race day was the same: Free Practice, five minutes of Qualifying and three 10-minute races, everyone driving identical Vortex-engined Exprit OK-Junior karts. The first grid was based on Qualifying, the second on Qualifying reversed and the third on each driver's best lap time from the first two events, with the fastest on pole.

  Sharma, who turned 15 last Thursday, set the pace from the start, topping Saturday’s two free practice sessions on a 0.77-kilometre track and claiming pole position with a time of 39.950secs. Second was 12-year-old Oliver Judd, 0.288s adrift and leading fellow Barbadians Zak and Jacob Mayers, 16 and 14 respectively, these three very evenly matched, covered by less than one-tenth.

  Sharma won the weekend’s first race from Jacob Mayers and Judd, with Jamaica’s Anthony Hogarth and Noah Thwaites, both 12 years old, fourth and fifth. Abishek Ramdeen (13), Zak Mayers and 15-year-old Connor-Patrick Payne (JAM) completed the field, a power outage at the circuit meaning no times were recorded.

  Payne and Ramdeen started from the front row of the reverse grid race, but Zak Mayers shot straight into a lead he was not to lose. Sharma clocked the fastest lap as he worked his way from the back of the grid to finish second, with Thwaites just inches behind after they had swapped places three laps from home, one driver from each nation in the top three, a combination repeated three more times.

  While Sharma started from pole for the day’s final race, Zak Mayers squeezed through early to lead the visitor at the flag by three-tenths, with a delighted Hogarth third, setting the fastest lap. With three retirements in this race, two from Barbados, Trinidad was comfortably in the lead at the end of Day 1 on 112 points, with Jamaica (84pts) and Barbados (83pts) fighting over second, the ‘home team’ keen to make up ground.

  With 67 points, Sharma led the Driver standings from Zak Mayers (63pts) and Hogarth (50pts). During a Free Practice session at the end of the day to familiarise competitors with Sunday’s longer (1.31km) circuit, however, Mayers crashed heavily, raising a question mark over his Day 2 participation.

  Sunday started well for Barbados: although Sharma was fastest in both Free Practice sessions, a mechanical issue prevented him setting a time in Qualifying. Putting some soft tissue damage in one leg at the back of his mind, Mayers led a Bajan whitewash in Qualifying, he and Judd separated by just three-hundredths, with 14-year-old Aeden Bruce a further six-hundredths back. Bruce, who had missed Saturday travelling, replaced Jacob Mayers, who opted to concentrate on the fourth round of the BKA’s 2025 Sectus Technologies Championship, which was running alongside on Sunday.

  And Bruce quickly stepped up to the plate, assuming the lead of the opening race when Mayers had a technical problem, only to be passed by Sharma three laps from home to finish second, 2.3secs behind. Hogarth was third, his second podium of the weekend, with Ramdeen the only other finisher. Bruce’s 21 points for second place moved Barbados ahead of Jamaica, but by only three points.

  Race 2 was arguably the thriller of the weekend. From reverse grid pole, Payne led early on, before being passed by fellow Jamaican Thwaites, who led until two-thirds distance, when mechanical gremlins intervened. Zak Mayers had made good progress early on from the back of the grid, so was there to take the lead, but it lasted only two laps before Sharma found a way past. He crossed the line 2secs ahead of a nose-to-tail train of Mayers, Judd and Hogarth. With Mayers not a nominated scorer for Barbados on Sunday, Bruce’s fifth place helped extend their lead over Jamaica with one race to go.

  The weekend’s final race was a more sedate affair, Sharma leading from flag to flag for a fourth win and fourth fastest lap, with Zak Mayers second. Thwaites was third, some consolation after his earlier retirement, but there was disappointment for fellow-countryman Hogarth who failed to score after retiring along with Judd, losing what looked like a secure third place in the standings behind Sharma and Mayers.

  Ramdeen’s consistent weekend earned him third place and made a major contribution to his country’s victory: although his best results were two fourth places, he was the only driver apart from Sharma with six race finishes.

BMF OK-J Development Series Nations Cup 2025 Bushy Park Barbados, August 15-17

Round 1

Qualifying - Pole: Alex Sharma (T&T), 39.950s; 2nd Oliver Judd (BAR), + 0.288s; 3rd Zak Mayers (BAR), + 0.329s; 4th Jacob Mayers (BAR), + 0.382s; 5th Anthony Hogarth (JAM), + 0.631s; 6th Noah Thwaites (JAM), + 0.664s; 7th Abishek Ramdeen (T&T), + 0.914s; 8th Connor-Patrick Payne (JAM), + 1.708s Race 1 *: 1st Sharma (T&T); 2nd J Mayers (BAR); 3rd Judd (BAR); 4th Hogarth (JAM); 5th Thwaites (JAM); 6th Ramdeen (T&T); 7th Z Mayers (BAR); 8th Payne (JAM). * due to a power outage, no times were recorded Race 2: 1st Z Mayers (BAR), 10m 49.609s; 2nd Sharma (T&T), + 5.292s; 3rd Thwaites (JAM), + 5.381s; 4th Hogarth (JAM), + 8.852s; 5th Ramdeen (T&T), + 19.443s; 6th Payne (JAM), + 22.683s. DNF: Judd (BAR), J Mayers (BAR). Fastest lap: Sharma (T&T), 40.003s, 69.295kmh/43.06mph Race 3: 1st Z Mayers (BAR), 10m 50.461s; 2nd Sharma (T&T), + 3.031s; 3rd Hogarth (JAM), + 6.822s; 4th Ramdeen (T&T), + 13.036s; 5th Payne (JAM), + 25.406s. DNF: J Mayers (BAR), Thwaites (JAM), Judd (BAR). Fastest lap: Hogarth (JAM), 40.069s, 69.181kmh/42.99mph Positions after round 1 - Drivers: 1st Sharma (T&T), 67 points; 2nd Z Mayers (BAR), 63pts; 3rd Hogarth (JAM), 50pts; 4th Ramdeen (T&T), 45pts; 5th Payne (JAM), 41pts; 6th Thwaites (JAM), 34pts; 7th J Mayers (BAR), 23pts; 8th Judd (BAR), 20pts. Nations: 1st Trinidad & Tobago, 112 points; 2nd Jamaica, 84pts; 3rd Barbados, 83pts

Round 2

Qualifying - Pole: Z Mayers (BAR), 1m 01.641s; 2nd Judd (BAR), + 0.0032s; 3rd Aeden Bruce (BAR), + 0.094s; 4th Thwaites (JAM), + 0.174s; 5th Hogarth (JAM), + 0.214s; 6th Ramdeen (T&T), + 0.499s; 7th Payne (JAM), + 1.232s. DNQ: Sharma (T&T) Race 1: 1st Sharma (T&T), 10m 24.076s; 2nd Bruce (BAR), + 2.324s; 3rd Hogarth (JAM), + 3.441s; 4th Ramdeen (T&T), + 6.358s. DNF: Z Mayers (BAR), Payne (JAM), Judd (BAR), Thwaites (JAM). Fastest lap: Sharma (T&T), 1m 01.060s, 77.236kmh/48.00mph Race 2: 1st Sharma (T&T), 11m 26.945s; 2nd Z Mayers (BAR), + 2.135s; 3rd Judd (BAR), + 2.317s; 4th Hogarth (JAM), + 2.479s; 5th Bruce (BAR), + 4.643s; 6th Ramdeen (T&T), + 10.618s; 7th Payne (T&T), + 11.048s. DNF: Thwaites (JAM). Fastest lap: Sharma (T&T), 1m 01.178s, 77.087kmh/47.90mph Race 3: 1st Sharma (T&T), 11m 14.961s; 2nd Z Mayers (BAR), + 8.865s; 3rd Thwaites (JAM), + 12.678s; 4th Bruce (BAR), + 15.248s; 5th Ramdeen (T&T), + 15.644s; 6th Payne (T&T), + 26.375s. DNF: Judd (BAR), Hogarth (JAM). Fastest lap: Sharma (T&T), 1m 00.915s, 77.419kmh/48.11mph Final positions after round 2 - Drivers: 1st Sharma (T&T), 142 points; 2nd Z Mayers (BAR), 106pts; 3rd Ramdeen (T&T), 90pts; 4th Hogarth (JAM), 85pts; 5th Payne (JAM), 69pts; 6th Thwaites (JAM), 54pts; 7th Bruce (BAR), 52pts; 8th Judd (BAR), 40pts; 9th J Mayers (BAR), 23pts. Nations: 1st Trinidad & Tobago, 232 points; 2nd Barbados, 155pts; 3rd Jamaica, 139pts

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