Ashan the super fox thrives on passion
The hills of Diyatalawa came alive for the 23rd time to the tune of screaming engines and burning rubber at the Foxhill Supercross last Saturday. Ashan Silva made a dramatic comeback to the racing circuit by drifting his way to an incredible victory and clinching the coveted title of best driver.
His unique driving style managed to keep him ahead of the pack .Ashan won the first stage of SLGT cars upto 3500cc . The grand finale of the super car event saw several top class drivers competing for top honours including 10-time Fox Hill Champion Aravinda Premadasa, Pasindu Peiris, Janaka Dias, Missaka Naveen, Rizvy Farook and Dilan Seneviratne. This was conducted in two stages where seven drivers each competed separately and the top 5 drivers of each stage were then slotted into a deciding final battle for the crown.
The final run proved to be quite a spectacle for all those present. Ashan was rear ended near the pine trees by the car behind him which threw his car off, to a normal driver this would have been quite difficult to recover from but Ashan was able to correct himself and hold on to his top position showing that he is truly a cut above the rest with his impeccable driving skills and his wealth of experience. With the completion of 10 laps in the final race, Silva outshone them all and was able to head the checkered flag in style.
The 30 year old has been racing professionally since 2005 starting off with the humble Ford Laser class and then graduated to other classes and is currently competing in the SLGT class which is the pinnacle of Sri Lanka auto motor racing. The past decade Silva has seen both ups and downs, the lowest point being the ban imposed on him which forced him to pause his career for six months so as to deal with the many legal implications he had to face due to the allegations made by his fellow competitors. Even after his name was cleared he still had to face many challenges, but Ashan stayed steadfast and resilient. When he entered the Foxhill, he was stopped at the registration process as the organisers wanted him to pay a penalty charge before he was even able to be considered to race but the SLAS intervened and made them drop the charges cause they were invalid. “This is a very expensive sport which involves a lot of money, dedication and passion to do it. I believe I’m blessed with a high passion for this expensive sport hence I have been dedicated to it from the first race I took part in 2005. But of course just like in any other sport I have faced a lot jealousy, pull backs and agony which have mentally brought me down in this Sport ” says Silva .