Ashan Silva cuts a niche at the Gajaba Supercross
Ashan Silva continued his dominance to earn the best driver’s award while promising biker Jacques Gunawardena plucked his maiden best rider’s title at a top event as the 14th Gajaba Supercross motor racing event came to an end at the Saliyapura Camp last Sunday.
The team titles of the event were won by Team TVS in motorbikes and Team Ceat in cars. Team TVS was represented by Ishan Dassanayake and Ivon B. Gurusinghe while veteran motor car specialists Janaka Dias and Upulwan Serasinghe led Team Ceat to the team title in cars.
Champion driver Ashan Silva was the cut above the rest as he won both races of SLGT upto 3500cc Supercar. His superb capability in maneuvering the mean machine gave Silva the second consecutive main title at Gajaba Supercross, after having won it in 2013.
For the remaining top positions an intensive battle was on among Ushan Perera, Janaka Dias and Pasindu Peiris, who turned out for Team Ceat and Aravinda Premadasa, the top contender from Team Exide. Eventually Ushan Perera won the second place while Janaka Dias finished at third in both races. Aravinda Premadasa’s car toppled and landed upside down in the first race but after getting his machine back on track, finished in the fifth position.
In motorbikes, Jacques Gunawardena outdid some of the top names in the track namely Gayan Sandaruwan, Shehan C. Adikari, Ishan Dassanayake and Indian K.P. Aravind, all whom have won the main title in the recent past in the MX 125cc to 250cc Motorcross Bikes events. Gunawardena won the first race without much ado despite being challenged early by the top contenders. But he conceded his top spot to Shehan C. Adikari in the second race to finish at second. At 18 Jacques becomes the youngest rider to win a top title at a Ceat-SLADA Championship event.
Dissanayake finished at second ahead of Adikari in the first Motorcross Bikes event after an intense battle. Indian rider Aravind, a rider to dominate the racing tracks was off his usual colours and was able to secure the third place in the second race of the event. Former champion rider Gayan Sandaruwan who made a comeback after a lapse of a year too was another top contender who failed to impress. He finished at fifth in the first race and pulled out in the second race after collapsing.
The top three finishers of the two races of SLH upto 1600cc event belonged to the same drivers. Sajad Zuhair of Ezy Racing won both races with Damith Weerasinghe and Zacky Wahab finishing at second and third at both occasions. Ivon B. Gurusinghe was dominant in the Class M upto 250cc Standard and Modified Motorbike events as he won both its races pushing Shanuka Sandaruwan to second place at both occasions. Sameera Premaratne won the race of MX upto 125cc for Armed Forces and went on to secure the second position of the MX upto 125cc Motorcross event. He was named the best rider from the Armed Forces.
Kushan Peiris continued to grow stronger in the SLN Ford Laser/Mazda upto 1500cc event. He won both its races, bringing down the glory maintained by veteran driver Upulwan Serasinghe, who finished at fourth and second in both races. The SM upto 750cc Superbike event was a sole hunting ground of Sachira Rajakaruna, who had top rider such as Uddika Srimal Malavige, Imal Manchanayake, Ananda Sampath and Ananda Wedisinghe striving in the back bunch.
The event was organised for the 14th occasion by the Gajaba Regiment of Sri Lanka Army in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Autosport Drivers’ Association and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation as main sponsors.
