Southern Monsoon Rally starts on Saturday

A. W. Gunawardhana - Matara Central Corr.

All arrangements are in place for the Southern Monsoon Rally to be held on Saturday, October 24 from the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium in Matara. The first car is scheduled to be flagged off by Minister of Mass Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena at 6.02 p.m. and the other competitors will follow in 2 minutes intervals.

The Rally is organised and conducted by the Southern Motor sports Club (SMSC) Matara. This is the 12th Motor Rally organised by the Southern Motor Sports Club since its inception in February 1997.

This year’s Rally is expected to be a high quality affair with many top class competitors in the fray.

Mansoor Hassen, Nishan Weerasuriya, Sanjaya Sedara Senerath, Deepthi Perera, Sam Chandrasena, Tariq Hassen, T. Kapilaratne, Shafraz Junaid, Shalutha Addasuriyam, Riyaz Farouk, W. M. N. Bandara, Sathy Watson, Rizvi Farouk are some of the names that come to mind.

The first stage of the Rally will cover a distance of 180 k.m. and the drivers will go through Dickwella, Tangalle, Beliatte, Weeraketiya, Middeniya, Godakawela, Uda Walawa and is scheduled to end at Embilipitiya at around 12 midnight on October 24.

The second stage will start at 2.00 a.m. on Sunday October 25 after a two hour break at Embilipitiya. The second stage will cover a distance of approximately 150 km.

The second stage will end at Buttala around 6 a.m. on Sunday. Then there will be a breakfast break at Buttala and the third stage will begin around 9 a.m. and cover a distance of approximately 170 km and will end at Tangalle around 1.00 p.m. Competitors will be transported from Tangalle to Matara with the competitors scheduled to leave Tangalle around 5 p.m. and expected to reach Matara around 6 p.m.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium two hours after the last car reaches the finish ramp.