I am pleased to announce that in my recent historic attendance at Spring Break Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida, I placed Fourth in the Tuner Jam Competition from a field of approximately 120 cars from all around the USA and Canada, despite being penalised for not having an elaborate stereo system installed in my car.

After the results were announced, I went to the Chief Judge to find out the scores and he told me that I was penalised 20 points for not having the stereo and that if I did, I would have won easily because the First placed competitor only beat me by 10 points.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate my team mate Ian Inniss who placed Third in the same competition and FIRST in his class in the Sound Quality Competition, which qualified him automatically for World Championships. It feels really great to be part of a team which has created history with such shocking results. Not only should we be proud that we made these achievements for Barbados but the entire Caribbean, since it has never been done before.

I would also like to say that despite all the negative feedback from the other competitors from the National Customised and Sound Off Championships, we have proven to you that the correct team was in fact sent to represent Barbados. It is really sad to see that despite The Checkered Flag Car Shop offering to rejudge the competition by 2 Trinidadian Judges, all of you, EXCEPT Rodney Clarke, decided to leave the results as they were and then turned around and made Nick and The Checkered Flag Shop look like as if they were dishonest by sending him a petty petition requesting the score sheets from the competition, which he had already said contained too many irregularities.

It is truly amazing how most of the said competitors were mislead by ONE and that they never took the time to see that The Checkered Flag Car Shop are solely responsible for having all the Car Shows in Barbados, Making Sound Off Competitions a reality for all of you who spend a fortune in car stereo, even though they do not sell stereo equipment. I would like to ask all of them, who brought IASCA judging to Bim? Who ensured that local competitors were exposed to professional Sound Off Judges? Who brought foreign competitors to our soil to teach us how to reach a new level of competition? Who made our attendance at Spring Break Nationals a reality? The answer to all these questions are the same!

During our exposure at Spring Break Nationals, we met with World Champions and CEO's of all the big stereo and accessory companies, who were not only shocked at the level that the cars from tiny Barbados were at but offered to have their equipment installed in our vehicles. The experience gained from this entire venture can only be termed as PRICELESS because unless you were actually there, it simply cannot be described.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sedrick Haynes from Banks Breweries for all his support, not only to me, but to making our National Customised and Sound Off Championships possible which was used as the stepping stone to Spring Break Nationals and Shone Gibbs of Tropical Shipping for sending the cars to Datona Beach and strongly believing that we would have made an impression among the "Big Guns". My sincere thanks to Corey Mitchell of Redline Auto Works, who worked 48 hours without sleep to ensure that the car was ready to compete, my painter Kirk Worrell who did a fantastic job, my upholsterer Derrick Cumberbatch who did a professional job, Dwayne of Precision Works Auto Valet and Michael Thorpe of Midas Magic Auto Valet, for the maintenance of the car and to Justin Harrison of The Checkered Flag Car Shop for not only being our comic relief during the competition but for also being a true team player.

Last but not least, to Nick Harrison of The Checkered Flag Car Shop who had the vision that competing overseas and winning at Spring Break Nationals was possible and for not giving up amidst all the negative feedback from others, until it was proven. During our competition at Spring Break Nationals, your true leadership skills were really revealed when you showed Ian and myself how easy it was to have faith and confidence, how you ensured that everything ran smoothly for us not only at the competition but the entire trip there. I must say that you really blew us away when we saw you on your knees cleaning our cars, toiling in the cold, day in night, to make sure that we never lacked for anything and etching into our brains what the saying "It is not what your country can do for you, it is what you can do for your country", really meant. He really showed us to be proud to say that we were 100% Bajan!

To all of you who thought that our journey would have been fruitless, we have now paved a path for you that no other team from the English Speaking Caribbean has ever done before and our achievements should not be taken lightly but instead you should ensure that our country is represented at this event every year from now on and fly the Broken Trident with dignity to show the world that despite our island is only 166 square miles, we are proud people and serious competitors.

In closing, I would like to say that I was really privileged to be on the same team as Ian Inniss, who himself displayed that he was a true professional competitor and that working with him taught me the true meaning of teamwork. Congratulations my brother, Look out World Championships, here we come! I would like to note that I will no longer be competing in local car shows, but will attend only as a special appearance. I will be concentrating strictly on international car shows.

"On Cloud Nine"
Charles "MR 56" Goddard