Nuwara Eliya Road Races on April 20

S. M. Jiffrey Abdeen Kandy Sports correspondent

The Annual Nuwara Eliya Road Races organised by the Sri Lanka Motor Cycle Club will be worked off at the Nuwara Eliya Lake Circuit in association with the Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council on April 20 (Sunday) commencing at 8 a.m. The official supervised practices will be held on Saturday - April 19th.

This year two trophies in memory of late Priya Munasinghe and late Ranjith Dhanapala will be awarded in memory of two great sportsmen.

Priya Munasinghe it must be recalled is one of the best exponents in Mini racing in Sri Lanka and he thrilled the crowds in the sixties and seventies and later played a major role in organising motor racing events and also in an administrative capacity as the Secretary of the now defunct Sri Lanka Association for motor Sports.

This trophy will be for Mini 7 upto 1000 cc and two events will be worked off during the day. The competitor obtaining the highest number of points in these two races will be awarded the Priya Munasinghe Memorial Trophy.

Late Ranjith Dhanapala was a great rider who died following a mishap last year and this trophy will be awarded for the two events for Standard/Modified Motor Cycles upto 250 cc (four stroke). The rider obtaining the highest number of points in these two races will be awarded the Ranjith Dhanapala Memorial trophy.

A total of 17 events will be worked off - four events in the motor cars category and thirteen is the motor cycles category. The events which are expected to be worked off are:

Motor cycles:

Group O Standard upto 125 cc (2 stroke), Standard upto 150 cc (4 stroke).

Group P Standard Modified: Std/Mod upto 125 cc (2 stroke), Std/Mod upto 250 cc (2 stroke), Std/Mod upto 125 cc (4 strokes), Std/Mod upto 250 cc (4 stroke) 02 events, Std/Mod upto 600 cc.

Group R Thoroughbred Motor Cycles: Racing upto 125 cc. Racing upto 250 cc.

Group Super Motard: Super Motard upto 250 cc, Super Motard upto 450 cc, and Super Motard Open Event.

Motor Cars:

One Make Class - Group SL-N: Mini 7 upto 1000 cc (2 events), Nissan March upto 1000 cc:

Groups L-A: Modified cars upto 1050 cc:

Some of the drivers who are expected to burn the tracks are Rohith de Silva, Thusith de Silva, Ajith Hemachandra, Dilshan Bandaranayake, Kanda Parameswaran, Charitha Nugawela, Susantha Gunawardena, Ravin Vannithamby, Dammika Peiris, Hafiz Cader, Darin Weerasinghe, Dinesh Senanayake, Dilan Senaviratne.

Among the riders who are expected to thrill the crowds are Vikum Ranjith, M.G. Sarath Kumarasinghe, Shane Silva, Champika Samaranayake, Shane Silva, Kumar Ganeshan, Tuan Ossen, Shane Gunawardena, Ramal Pathiratne, W.N. Gunasinghe, Jhonny Daniels, Riley Wanigasekera, Shiran Samuel, M. Umar and many others.