Mario James, Gleaner Writer

A smiling Sabrina poses before an AMV Rotax kart. - Photo by Mario James

Rysa Racing, a karting team out of Opa Locka, Florida, had team members honing their craft at the recent international karting meet held in Jamaica. Team leader/crew chief Rudy Ramsaroop was impressed by the prowess of Richard Sirgany's eighteen-year old daughter, Sabrina, in her inaugural event as a driver last Sunday, and has offered her a spot on his race team. Sirgany placed fourth in the first race she entered, the 125cc international Rotax class, after meet officials waived her rookie status shortly before the race.

Her proud father said that she was a racer right out of the box. "She rides a quad [four-wheel off-road bike] like a very aggressive boy on drugs." Her mother, he intones, wasn't too keen in developing the innate racing talent her daughter had, preferring her to develop the obviously feminine attributes she possesses.

Sky is the limit

But four months ago, after setting up a cart for his son Justin, he asked Hasse chassis distributor and certified Rotax dealer Andrew Jackson to try her out in one of his karts. Sirgany says that within 20 laps she turned a 1:06 lap time, which Jackson puts into perspective by saying "It takes a beginner four or five weekends of track time to get to that level; she did that time after about half a day's worth of practice." She gives the impression that the sky is the limit for her talent - "If I have the time [outside of studies] I would want to go as far as I can in motorsport. I have dreams of becoming a Formula one driver." No smile, no gimmicky laugh. Poker face on.

She has since recorded a sub-60 second lap time, and competes locally in a male- dominated field of about 20 entrants, of which there are four girls. Born into a family with a racing history (Sirgany Sr has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Mario Andretti and the late Ronnie Petersen, Richard recalls) Sabrina says that she is the only female member in her father's family that enjoys watching Formula one races.

She starts pre-law at Hartford in August, but Ramsaroop intends to take her to the next level, technically, at his proving grounds at Opa Locka in preparation for his teams next race day at Homestead [Florida] on the 27th of this month, where she will debut under his colours.

Her current coach, Peter 'The Brand' Rae, is full of praise for his young protégée, and her doting dad could barely contain himself.

Rae is the distributor for AMV karting chassis and components locally, and is the supplier for her new kart, as she will continue to race at Jamaican events when she is here.