Ashan burns the track at Sigiriya
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While Ashan Silva dominated the fusion of a track that has mud, gravel and tarmac to become the champion driver for the third consecutive year, Shehan C. Adhikari won his maiden title as the champion rider at the Sigiriya Rally Cross 2015 last weekend. The seventh edition of the out-of-tradition motor racing event was held at the Sri Lanka Air Force base, on a track that combines a portion of the straight airplane runway and a tough gravel course. Team Ezy Racing, the combination of Dilan Seneviratne and Sajad Zuhair, won the team championship in cars while Team TVS, consisting of riders Ishan Dasanayake and Ivan B. Gurusinghe became the champion team in motorbikes.
Ashan Silva, who dominated both the races of SLGT 3500cc event, the main races in cars, won both races and easily became the choice as champion driver for the third year running. The remaining drivers of the event put up a challenge amongst each other, making it a tough affair among the top five. Dilan Seneviratne became the runner-up in the first place, followed by Pasindu Peiris at third while in the second race they both lost grip. Janaka Dias became the runner-up in the second race followed closely by Tyronne Hendewithana at third.
Aravinda Premadasa, who became the best driver at the Gunners Supercross held last month, was totally out of the radar. One of the reasons for his sudden downfall was being punished as the last in the starting grid due to his car being unacceptably under-weight while being scrutinized, though he was the second best in timings at practices.
After a tough duel with Ishan Dasanayake in the MX 125cc to 250cc motorcycle event, Shehan C. Adikari became the champion in the first race while losing the battle to Jacques Gunawardene in the second race. But his overwhelming results at both races were enough for Adhikari, to become the champion driver. However the ever-dominant Indian rider K.P. Aravind, who was the title holder in motorbikes was out of shine and finished at fourth and second in both races.
The first race of the SM 250cc to 750cc motorbike event was won by Imal Manchanayake while Sachira Rajakaruna won the second race. As a result of the track being watered by the organisers due to dust after the first race, its winner Manchanayake and a number of other riders were seen running out of control in the second race. Though the usual form is to have a car event after the track is being watered, this time the organisers’ failure in having the races programmed properly had many riders in trouble thus being forced out of races. The organisers were criticized by many for cutting down the number of laps to three of MX up to 85cc for Under-16s, MX up to 125cc Racing and MX up to 125cc Motocross bike events.
After a brief lapse, Ishraq Wahab regained his form to snatch the Truck and Jeep Open event. Veteran driver Upulwan Serasinghe won the first race of the SLN Ford Laser/Mazda up to 1300cc event while the second race belonged to Kushan Peiris. Sajad Zuhair won twin titles with victories in the SLH up to 1600cc and SLS up to 1500cc events. Ivon B. Gurusinghe too pocketed a double, winning both races of Modified Street Trail Bikes up to 250cc.
The event was organised by Sri Lanka Air Force and the Sri Lanka Autosport Drivers’ Association with sponsorships from Banck of Ceylon, Honda, Etel and Peoples Bank.