Gunners Super Cross 2007 tomorrow

Bernard PERERA

MOTOR RACING: The fourth annual Gunners Super Cross 2007 organised by Artillery Regiment and conducted by Sri Lanka Association for Racing Drivers and Riders will be held on Sunday at the Artillery Regiment Circuit, Minneriya.

The points gained by Drivers and Riders at this meet is added to their tallies which decides the SLARDAR champion at the end of the year.

Sixty six drivers and 79 riders have sent in their entries for this year’s championship events.

The super event will be the most eye catching event this year with 13 entries. Last year’s SLARDAR champion Dinesh Deheragoda and three times champion Aravinda Premadasa are sure to engage in a tough battle to gain the maximum points here to go ahead of each other.

The other drivers in this category who are expected to pose a big threat to the two top drivers are Reyaz, Farook, Janaka Dias, Mario Dias, Dinesh Jayawardene and Nihal Premaratne. This event too could be classed as a Mitsubishi event as most of the drivers will be behind the wheels of Mitsubishis.

There will be many other leading drivers competing here in different categories who have performed well in their respective classes.

Upulwan Serasinghe and Nishan Wasalathanthri too will engage in a battle that has been going on for a long time in the Ford Laser/Mazda 1300 and 1500 classes.

Nishan has got the better of Upulwan in many occasions. But Upulwan is a driver who has never given up though he was a loser on many a time.

Nihal Premaratne veterans on the local track Rohan de Silva, Sumanapala Mannapperuma, Upul Perera, Madhusha Mannapperuma, Ravi Mayadunne and Shehan Tissera too drive their vehicles to gain prestige and supremacy in this kind of racing for which they spent their valuable time and money.

Young Pasindu Pieris who compete in both versions will be a big threat to all leading drivers in the modified class.

In the motorcycle event it will be a treat to watch Gayan Sandaruwan on this track. He has won all three championships here and will go all out to make it a four in a row. He has faced all top riders in the local scene. In the recent past the biggest threat for him came from young Pasindu Pieris who races on both versions.

The other experienced riders in the fray are Tuan Ossan, Indika Gurusinghe, Shane Gunawardene, Rohana Jayaratne and M. C. S. Perera from Police.

Meanwhile the young set of riders who are expected to give the former riders a good run are Buddhika Sandaruwan, Buultjens brothers the other set of Pieris brothers Pasindu and Sasindu. They all will go flat out to hang on to these top riders with a view to be in contention for places among them.

All in all a good day filled with all the thrills and spills expected from a meet of this nature could be witnessed by the large crowds that is expected to throng the Minneriya circuit.

This also has become an annual event which gives the rural folk from the North Central Province an opportunity to enjoy Motor Racing once a year. All credit to organisers of this event for the last few years.