Rohan reigns supreme at Kotmale Hill Climb

by S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent

Maestro Rohan de Silva reigned supreme at the annual Kotmale Speed Hill Climb organised by the Up country Motor Sports Club when he not only returned the fastest timing but also turned out to be the fastest man over at Kotmale by lowering the overall course record at the Kotmale races held at Mawatura in Kotmale on Sunday.

Rohan de Silva driving his Mobil Modified Ford Formula in the event for Modified formula ears upto 1665 cc achieved the record timing of 56.568 seconds which lowered his own course record of 57.219 seconds set up in 2004.

He recorded this record breaking timing in his second run under overcast conditions. He ran the length of the course in under a minute in both his runs. His timing in his first run was 57.645 seconds. His was a spectacular run which left the highly appreciative spectators dumbfounded. His negotiating of the corners and the change of gears done in a most professional way helped him to record this timing.

This formula event turned out to be a home and home event with young Dinesh Jayawardena sponsored by the DHL finished a close second to him with a timing of 58.594 seconds.

Rohan de Silva now has the course records at Radella and Kotmale Kurundapona hill climbs, a very creditable achievement for a racing driver who has been in the scene for over 27 years and like wine he appears to be getting better with age, setting an example to the youth what dedication to the sport could do.

Another driver to return the timing of under a minute was that hill stormer Nishan Weerasooria who made a welcome return to the racing scene in his Mitsubishi Evolution 8 by returning a timing of 58.141 seconds in the event for Group FIA - N Cars over 1600 cc upto 3500 cc.

This timing was achieved in his first run and his second run saw a timing of 58/591 seconds. Nishan Weerasooria dominated this event to such an extent that the second placed Maneendra Amadoru in a Toyota Starlet timed 1.07.781 minutes - a lead of over 9 seconds which is a huge gap in hill climb timing parlance and gap is usually a few seconds or at most a couple of seconds.

Apart from the deeds of Rohan de Silva three other class records were lowered during the day. First it was newcomer Dilan Senaviratne who clocked a timing of 1.04.657 minutes to in his Honda Civic to lower Israq Wahab's record of 1.05.006 seconds in the event for Group SL - N Cars between 8.0 and 10.0 Kg/hp.

The second record to go was by Dhammika Peiris who clocked 1.08.141 minutes to lower his own record of 1.10.583 minutes in the event for cars Group SL - N Ford Laser/Mazda 323 upto 1500 cc.

The third class record to go was in the event for Group SL - A Cars between 1050 cc and 1400 cc by Kandy's Rohan Dhammapala who clocked 1.03.348 minutes in his Honda City to lower his own record of 1.08/139 established last year.

But it must be mentioned that Ushada Abeysundera who finished second with a timing of 1.07/348 minutes broke the existing record twice during the day after Rohan Dhammapala had damaged his front axle. But Ushada Abeysundara who drove a similar vehicle lent his front axle to enable Rohan Dhammapala to break the record in the last run of the day after the other competitors in the event had agreed in unison to allow Dhammapala to repair his vehicle and run this event at the conclusion of the races. It was sportsmanship of the highest order.