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| Saturday, 17 April 2004 |
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Rohan, Dinesh, Aravinda fastest climbers at Radella by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent at Radella Maestro Rohan de Silva clocked the fastest time for the day while five class records fell at the 20th Annual Radella Speed Hill Climb organised by the Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR) which was also a stage of the SLARDAR Championship 2004 and worked off at the picturesque Radella track last Wednesday. Rain which fell during the race compelled the organisers to call off the race after the second run had been completed only in a few of the events. The distribution of awards took place later at the Dimbulla Cricket and Athletic Club later in the evening with Mahen Thambiah acting as the Master of Ceremonies. Rohan de Silva behind his Mobil Auto Color Ford Formula despite the slight moisture condition of the track took the scene by storm his splendid driving to time 33.29 seconds which was the fastest for the day 1.44 seconds behind the course record held by him. He looked the complete master as he zoomed into the finish to the big round of applause from the spectators. Behind him was last year's winner Suranjith Premadasa with 34.68 seconds. It was a sort of a sweet revenge for Rohan de Silva after his last week's defeat at Mahagastotte in a different terrain. De Silva was in such roaring form that he looked lowering the existing course record if there was the possibility of running the second run, for Modified Formula cars. But the best tussle for supremacy was seen in the event for Group A Cars upto 3500 CC which saw a titanic struggle between the famed hill stormers Aravinda Premadasa, Dinesh Deheragoda, Nalin D. Perera, Reyaz Farook and record holder Nishan Weerasooriya. The old fire that existed between the two top drivers Aravinda Premadasa and Dinesh Deheragoda appeared to rekindle in a healthy way and both displayed excellent spirit and thrilled the crowds with some dare devil cornering and sprinting whenever possible. Premadasa emerged a close winner with a timing of 34.99 seconds while Deheragoda was behind him by just 0.07 seconds which in terms of common expression would have been the time taken to wink an eye. This will give some indication of the closeness of the struggle between this due. Securing the third slot was diminutive Reyaz Farook who drove a Mitsubishi HTL Logistics Evolution IV, a car which was earlier raced by Dinesh Deheragoda himself to time 35.77 seconds which was a good performance considering the age of the car. Farouk at last came good at a hill climb in a formula when he scored his maiden victory with a timing of 34.19 seconds in the process getting the better of Rohan de Silva who timed 34.43 seconds. This was a just reward for the grit, determination and preserverence of Farouk who took to standard formula racing at a time Rohan de Silva and Romani de Silva were at their best and his not so encouraging performance at Mahagastotte last week when he hit the sands bags and stalled twice in the same run. Well done Rizvi keep it up. Rohan de Silva who was the top favourite for this event had bad luck of a slow start when the vehicle moved slowly after a wheel spin. Then in the last stretch, he missed shifting into the third gear where he lost valuable time. Though just 0.24 seconds separated Rizvi and Rohan but the vanquished was the first to shower praise on the victor saying that he deserved this win after all the hard work the winner had put in all these days. Record holder Romani de Silva encountered some problem with his machine and could not finish the run in this event for the second year in succession. The first record to go was in the event for mobikes upto 125 cc (2 stroke) and upto 250 cc (4 stroke) when Madhuranga Caldera timed 38.60 seconds to clip off Indunil Wickremasinghe's record of 30.08 seconds. Second placed Damien Goonetillake too broke this record with a timing 38.24 seconds. Shane Gunawardena timed 35.93 seconds to erase Nalin Perera's record of 37.39 seconds in the event for mobikes over 125 cc (2 stroke) and over 250 cc 4 strokes. Riley Wanigasekera too battered the record but had to be content with the 2nd place timing 36.46 seconds. Record breaking at hill climbs has now a become a habit to burly Sheran Fernando driving a Citroen Saxo in the Group N Cars 8 to 10 kg/HP category, has timed 34.49 seconds to lower his own record of 40.06 seconds established last year. Citroens are back in our roads after a lapse of nearly 40 years and this make has been made famous by the record breaking feats of Sheran Fernando who extracted the maximum power from the engine to keep improving on the running time. Apart from the power extracted from this unmodified machine, the driving skills of Sheran Fernando also played a major role and it is the combination of these factors which has put the Citroen Saxo on a winning streak from the time it made its debut in our racing tracks from the time if left its country of manufacture - France. The fourth record to go was in the Group N Cars 6 to 8 Kg/Hp by Dinesh Jayawardena who timed 38.02 seconds in his Mobil Auto Color Honda to shave off Sumanapala Manapperuma's record of 38.06 seconds by a split second. Jayawardena now is the proud holder of the 6 to 8 Kg/HP records at both Mahagastotte and Radella hill Climbs. Dinesh Senanayake in a Honda Accord too came up with a good performance timing 39.30 seconds. The last record to go was by young Darin Weerasinghe who recorded the fastest time for cars in Group N 10 to 12 Kg/HP by clocking 42.09 seconds which according to SLARDAR to mark this event gave the indication that it lowered the existing record of 42.90 seconds. Darin who was always raring to go made a screeching run in his effort. In second place was Miss Shehera de Silva with a time of 45.24 seconds and not far behind was Nihal Premasiri clocking 45.36 seconds. Shafraz Junaid fresh from his exploits at Mahagastotte where he broke the course record for motor cycles, did well to time 35.54 seconds but failed to break the course record here by under a second in the event for motor cycles racing over 125 cc 28/T an over 250 4 S/T. Indian rider M. S. Ravindra riding a TVS clocked 38.42 seconds to set up a new mark in the event for motor cycles racing upto 125 cc (2 S/T) and Upto 250 (4 S/T). Dhammika Peiris of Team Caltex sparkled in the new one make event for Group N Cars Ford Laser/Mazda Upto 1500 cc to win this event in its inaugural year by clocking 46.02 seconds. Upulwan Serasinge came second with a time of 46.08 seconds. It must be pointed out that there has been a change in the classification terminology. Group N now is unmodified cars which earlier used to be Group A Cars. The Group A cars are now modified cars. Some of the unmodified car events are now run in the Cubic Capacity class replacing the earlier weight to power ratio where the gross weight of the car is divided by the output of the engine. Dhammika Peiris won his second for the day with a time of 45.47 seconds in the event for cars over 12 Kg/HP and the up and coming Rajeewa Abeywardena, a good material for the future finished a close second with 46.05 seconds and Hishan Fernando of SriLankan Airlines fame finished third with 46.31 seconds. Rizvi Farouk completed a satisfying day winning another new event for modified cars between 1400 and 1600 cc kin his pet Caltex Honda V Tech wit a best time of 36.26 seconds. This vehicle holds the earlier class record 35.24 seconds when it was run under the category M & T cars between 1350 cc and 1665 cc. In second place of the new event was Javidh Wahab with 37.63 seconds. Shane Silva, Dhammika and Nishantha, registered victories in the events for motor cycles. Mayor of Nuwara Eliya Chandralal Karunaratne was the Chief Guest and distributed the awards. |
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