Nishan Weerasooriya bids farewell with fastest for timing

by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr

HILL CLIMB: Hill climbing ace Nishan Weerasooriya made his exit from motor racing, but not before clocking the fastest timing of the meet at Mahagastota Speed Hill Climb organised by the Ceylon Motor Sports Club and worked off at Mahagastota Estate in Blackpool Nanu Oya last Sunday.

Nishan Weerasooriya driving his Alpha Mitsubishi Evolution 9 in the Supper Cars event SL-GT cars upto 3500 cc timed 35.81 seconds in his second run which was the overall fastest timing of the day. Nishan Weerasooriya also timed 36.66 seconds in his first run which was the fastest for the day up to that time till he bettered it in his second. Weerasooriya’s timing was just 0.24 seconds slower than the course record of 35.57 seconds held jointly by him and Rohan de Silva.

But Nishan Weerasooriya made his exit with at least three records to his credit in this oldest hill climb in Sri Lanka and South Asia. He held the class record for stock cars, and the record for the super cars. Thirdly the course record jointly with Rohan de Silva.

Nishan Weerasooriya displayed excellent skills with his smooth his and quick change of gears and negotiated the corners at top speed and hardly lost any speed with his superb handling of this fast year.

Weerasooriya is a racing driver is whom mishap in the racing track in not known as he is extremely careful with his machine. He started his racing career in 1995 and is one of the exponent of the Mitsubishi Evolution and after racing he uses this car to commute to office.

The distribution of awards took place at the Mahagastota Estate immediately after the conclusion of the meet around 4 p.m. but upto the organisers have released the official results despite many requests.

The President of the Ceylon Motor Sports Club Niroshan Perera said that it was on Friday - five days after conclusion of the race that the results were ratified by the Club’s Committee and will be released soon. But it is surprising how the awards ceremony was held when the results were not ratified.