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| Sunday, 13 April 2003 |
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Suranjith Premadasa determined to improve on record by S. M. JIFFREY ABDEEN - Kandy Sports Corr. at Mahagastota Course record holder Suranjith Premadasa is determined to better his 8 year old record of 35.84 seconds but the formula expert Rohan de Silva is all out to eclipse this record and to become the fastest driver ever at the oldest Hill Climb in Asia the Mahagastota Speed Hill Climb organised by the Ceylon Motor Sports Club which will be held at the Mahagastota tracks today (April 13) commencing at 8.30 a.m. Both Rohan de Silva and Suranjith Premadasa were seen inspecting the track at Mahagastota this week as this is extremely necessary as there will be no practice runs this year which helps them with acclimatisation. But both are determined to set up new marks, and they will be competing in the Modified formula event while Rohan de Silva will have an additional opportunity in the Standard Formula event. But track condition is not the same as what used to be a few years ago according to many racing drivers hence most records have been there for four years or more. But this was once the cart road in Planters parlance and has been used for races since 1934. But everytime before the race the surface is done up by the organisers and they cannot do more than that for a one day event every year. The super cars event will see a tense battle between Nishan Weerasooria, Arvinda Premadasa, N. Perera and Romani de Silva. The standard formula event will see Rohan de Silva, Rizvi Faroul, Dinesh Jayawardena and Harsh de Silva battling it out like Zackie Ismail, Ilshraw Wahab, Nalin Perera, Sheran Fernando and Zackie Ismail will do so in the event for Cars between 8 to 10 Kg/BHP. A keen tussle will be seen in the 6 to 8 Kg/BHP event between Javidh Wahab, Dinesh Senanayake and Bri Ponnambalam. In the event for Group M & S cars between 1050 cc and 1350 cc there will be a keen tussle between Dinesh Jayawardena and Rameez Mahamoor who has flown all the way from Dubai to compete. With Yoga Perera not taking part this year, the record of 39.96 seconds held by him should take a beating. There will be a three cornered fight in the event for Group A cars between 6 to 8 Kg/BHP with Dinesh Senanayake, Javidh Wahab and the ever green Bri Ponnambalam fighting it out. The class record of 40.75 seconds held by Bandula Weerasinghe established in 1991 has stood firm for 12 years. Last year Javidh Wahab timed 42.10 secs. The others who are expected to excel are Sheran Fernando, Israq Wahab, Zackie Ismail, Dhammika Peiris, Nishan Fernando, Sisira Goonesekera, Nihal Premasiri, Darin Weerasinghe, Ananda de Alwis, Mahen Thambiah, Dilshard Hamdoon, Mahen Hurulle, Janaka Senani Palliyaguruge, Mahen Madugalle and many others. The two-wheelers should see some top class performances from Kumar Rajapriya, Azad Ziaffudin, Shafraz Junaid, Riley Wanigasekera, Jhonny Daniels, W. M. Wickum Ranjith, Sarath Kumarasinghe, Indika Gurusinghe, Ramal Pathirana. A point of interest is that veteran racing driver Ananda de Alwis will be participating in his 39th year at Mahagastota and Kumar Rajapriyar has been riding in this meet for over 25 years. |
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