Glory to Nuwara Eliya

Travails of a motor cycle champion:

MOTOR RACING: In 1975 April William Fernando, the late Mayor of Nuwara Eliya welcomed Ranjith Chandrasekera and Dallas Martynstyne at a function held at his council chambers after their historic climb to the summit of mount Pidurutalagala on motorcycles.

In his welcome speech he said that Ranjith and Dallas have glorified Nuwara Eliya by their record breaking adventurous climb to the summit of highest point in Sri Lanka.

He emphasised on Ranjith that not only this adventure that add more colour to his city but he had been taking part in Nuwara Eliya Road Races and Mahagastota Hill Climb and gave lots of excitement and entertainment to the holiday makers and motor sports fans.

Also, he stated that his people in Nuwara Eliya would remember him in many years to come. To his words Ranjith has met several of his fans and followers at the race meet held on last Sunday and they were glad to see him again in their city.

They remember him very well and still popular among them for his breathtaking riding in Nuwara Eliya Road Races and Mahagastota Hill Climb.

Ranjith was in Nuwara Eliya to witness the Road Races while holidaying in Sri Lanka. He was met by some of his fans that recognised him recalling his past performance and how he thrilled the crowds at the races.

Among them were a Motorcycle racing rider Wikum Ranjith from Nuwara Eliya. He had been a regular spectator at the races when he was a teenager in '70's Ranjith met one of his good old friends, Daily News correspondent for Nuwara Eliya P. Rajarathnam who came to know that Ranjith is in town and come to meet him where he was staying with CMCC officials. He had been very supportive to Ranjith during his racing time in Nuwara Eliya.

Commenting about the road race held last Sunday, Ranjith is well satisfied the way it was handled by the race organisers Ceylon Motorcycle Club. But, he is not impressed about running the race in the opposite direction of the circuit, which is anti clockwise.

For many years the road race had been the prestigious and most colourful event of Nuwara Eliya festival and it was run clockwise.

Changing of the direction of the race is somewhat similar to designing a new track. In Ranjith's own words "History of this Road Race is scraped and now it is like a man without memory". One cannot make any comparison of past and today's performances of the competitors.

In short Road Race is reborn and the history is erased. Nuwara Eliya city is the latest victim of Alzaima, losing it's memory. He hopes that the club officials and the responsible citizens of Nuwara Eliya will realise the importance of this issue and restore the Road Race back to its glory and run the race in clockwise direction.

Regarding safety of the competitors, Ranjith's opinion is that using of old tyres to create a chicane opposite Grossvenor Hotel is disastrous.

Instead, it is far safer to use bails of Hay to give direction to negotiate the chicane. And there was discipline problem and it was noticed that one or two riders did not obey the corner marshal's orders not to enter the track.

Ranjith observed corner marshal Anton Raja a retired racing rider and a driver, who performed his duties very well concerning the safety of the competitors and spectators.

He maintained the chicane area without any sand and other debris falling off competition vehicle after knocking down tyres and also placing thrown out tyres back to where they should be

(To be continued)