Rizvi-Jamal winners at Kukuleganga Rally

Rizvi Farouk, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX and co-driven by Jamal Hussein, won the MRA Kukuleganga Rally 2009 on the tarmac roads surrounding the Kukuleganga Holiday Resort last weekend. Farouk beat Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII driver and former winner Dinesh Jayawardene by 1 minute and 12 seconds to also take home the SL 'GT' class winner's trophy. Jayawardene, co-driven by debutant Dilan Seneviratne, set a record time on the final stage to take the position by just 14 seconds from Evolution X driver and former MRA Rally Champion Dinesh Deheragoda. However, with a 3rd place result Deheragoda further consolidated his lead in the 2009 MRA Rally Championship after his win in Pelwatte in January.

For Farouk, a veteran TSD rally driver, this was a first special-stage rally victory after suffering from bad luck and mechanical problems in previous MRA rallies. However, he had far from a straightforward event as he had to claw back an early lead taken by Deheragoda and co-driver Mushtaq Ahamed and then weathered a furious charge by fellow Subaru driver Janaka Dias who set stunning stage times and extraordinary speed to close within an unbelievable 0.5 seconds overall going into the final night stage on Saturday evening.

Unfortunately for Dias, he went off the road 50 metres from the finish of Special Stage 5 and eventually finishing the stage, threw away all hopes of victory.

Debutant duo Thiwanka Wijayasekara and Dhilan Sabar came home in 4th place overall and in the SL 'GT' class in a Honda Integra Type-R, a lower-powered car that was not expected to feature strongly. However, the lacked experience, set very competitive stage times only a few seconds off the leaders and were rewarded with a strong finish ahead of more powerful cars.

Perennial challenger Javidh Wahab also was in contention but retired a technical defect in his Honda Civic Type-R on SS5, leaving the consistent Sajaad Zuhair and co-driver Shajeeth Majumudeen to take victory in a Honda Civic SiR in the SL 'H' 1600 class over Nigel and Shaun Perera in their Civic SiR.

Premalalath Senarath was third in the class in a Ford Laser while Missaka Naween Gamage and Ashan Silva took victory in the SL 'A' 1050 category in a Nissan March from Farzan Najmudeen and Anas Cassim, also in a March.

The KKG Rally, as it is popularly known, saw further advances in safety by the Motor Racing Association, the organizing club, as for the first time a full-time '00' car was driven at race speeds preceding the actual competitors. This was done to announce the arrival of the competing vehicles to the large crowds gathered on the stages. In addition to that and a preceding '0' car, the club also had a qualified team of paramedics, doctors and ambulances available on stage.

With support from local authorities, police officers and other officials were positioned along the stages in order to clear the course and maintain safety as per international regulations.

The competing drivers, who unanimously proclaimed it as a fine organizing effort, repaid the organizers with great camaraderie and intense competition - most stages saw gaps of 2 seconds or less between vital positions, an ever-changing leader board and until the final night stage, there was only one retirement.

The fact that the finishing order was decided only on the final stages is a testament to the level of competition that was witnessed.