SLARDAR c'ship begins with Katukurunda I on Feb. 19

MOTOR RACING: Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drives and Riders (SLARDAR) annual Championship will be worked out for the fifth consecutive year. For the second successive year CIC Auto Finish will sponsor the Championship.

Events of the Championship will be the Fox Hill Super-cross at Diyatalawa, Gajaba Super-cross at Anuradhapura. Gunners Supercross at Minneriya, Radella Hill Climb at Nuwara Eliya and the two circuits meets at Katukurunda Air Force Base.

Main Championship event for the year 2006 will be the newly introduced Grand Touring car event for cars upto 3500 cc. All super car drivers will take part with three times Champion driver Aravinda Premadasa as the main attraction. Dinesh Deheragoda if he decides to take part in his newly acquired Group FIN specs Mitsubishi Evo 9 will battle it out with a host of others who will be driving the modified version of the pre - 2003 Evos and Subarus. Nalin Perera, Firoz Omar, Dilantha Malagamuwa, Riyaz Farook, Dasaraj Dassanayake are front-runners competing in this event.

With the introduction of the new classification format by the governing body SLAS (Sri Lanka Association of Motor Sports), SLARDAR has taken a bold decision to introduce two new championship classes namely SLA upto 1600 cc modified cars. This event is bound to attract veteran driver Yoga Perera in his highly modified Mini.

The Honda front runners are Wahab brothers, Madushan Mannapperuma, Zaki Ismail, Rohan de Silva and his nephew Harsha de Silva and one of the most talented new comer to racing, Nigel Perera, Nishan Wasalatantri and Rameez Mohamood in their Suzukis will also post a challenge to these drivers. The SLH class upto 1600 cc recently introduced to the racing category will also be included as a Championship event. Diresh Senanayake, S. Mannapperuma, Dinesh Jayawardena, Thushara Hemachandra, Ely Gershon are the top runners in this event.

With permission granted to upgrade engines in this category, a host of talented low budget drivers are certain to make an impact in this class.

For the Fifth consecutive year the Championship will include the Ford Lazer/Mazda 1500 cc category. Title holder Nishan Wasalatantri is bound to improve on his excellent form. Former champion driver Upulwan Serasinghe is assured of showing some of his acrobatics in his determination to make a comeback. Drivers like Dhammika Peiris, Dilshan Hamdoon, Chaminda Weerasinghe, Susantha Gunawardena, W. G. Ranga and much-improved Army driver Maj. Rohitha Wijepala will be the main contenders in this event.

After a lapse of one year, as a supporting event SLARDAR has also included Formula Ford racing. This will attract veteran drivers Rohan de Silva, Romani, Dinesh and leading lady driver Shehara. They will be challenged by a minimum of 15 other drivers from Rohan de Silva's stable and the striking black F16 of Rizvi Farook. As in the past, other supporting events will be worked out during the year.

In the Motorcycle category, MX motorcycles in the under 16 age group event, which timed out to be a highly successful and popular event in the 2005 Championship calendar will be repeated this year too. 2005 Champion driver Yuhan Rajith Silva will defend his title. Host of youngsters from last years' under 13-age category will be taking part in this years' Championship.

Gayan Sandaruwan who won the 250 cc SLARDAR Championship event for the third successive year will once again defend his title. Rehan Buljans, Tuan Ostsan and veteran driver Ananda Wedasinghe are bound to improve on their performances.

Tarmac motorcycle Champion Maduranga Caldera did not have stiff competition in 2005 due to the absence of former Champion rider Damian Gunatilake who suffered a nasty accident and was unable to compete.

Damian has since fully recovered and is sure to make things difficult for Maduranga. Co-sponsors who have come forward for the Championship include beverage giant Coca-Cola, Lion Brewery, Douglas Sons (agents for NGK) and US Motor Spares.

SLARDAR is now fully geared up with internationally recognised highly sophisticated computerized timing equipment (AMG). This along with well-trained SLARDAR officials, the competitors are assured of a good year of racing. First event for the year will be the circuit meet 1 of Katukurunda to be held on 19 February. For further details log on to SLARDAR web site at www.slardarracing.com.