Sanjeeva and Upulwan steal the limelight

Bernard Perera in Mirigama

The inaugural Race Meet on the newly constructed Mirigama Super Race Track ended on a grand scale yesterday. The Meet which was organized and conducted by Sri Lanka Motorcycle Club saw 12 events being contested by over 100 drivers and riders.

Sanjeeva Udayakumara entered the record book as the first winner on this track when he won the opening event, the 125 cc class motorcycle event pushing M.C.S. Perera of Police to second slot. C. Sampath Subasinghe was the second runner-up in this event.

The experienced driver in the Ford Laser Mazda event in Sri Lanka Upulwan Serasinghe was the first driver to win the cars event yesterday when he won the Group SL-N 12 kg class comfortably pushing his closest rival Rohan J. Fernando. But Upulwan failed to maintain his winning form driving in the Group SL-N 10-12 kg class event over Dinesh Senanayake and Pasindu Pieris.

It was also notable to see Pasindu Pieris driving in races not familiar to win as he is a veteran on high powered car events for which he has shown a lot of promise in the recent past.

The only incident that took place yesterday was in the SL-N Mini event where Sasith Gunawardena who went off the track while taking the final corner before entering the straight. The race which was won by Shashika Lakmal Wijeratne followed by K. Parameswaran and Samantha Gunawardena. But the organizers had to withhold the results as some drivers lodged protests.

Samin Attanayake who was out of racing for nearly six years was seen behind the wheel once again in a DAIHATSU competing in the SL-N cars upto 1050 cc class which he won the event with ease.

He was in the pole position and went onto hold onto his lead throughout the 10 laps to beat veteran driver Mahen Madugalle.

A spectator turnout of over 20,000 had a great day witnessing all the thrills and spills expected in a racing meet. Specially the rural folk from nearby villages of Mirigama experienced a full day filled with entertainment. All this was possible due to the efforts of Jayantha Perera who is the sole owner of the track who had the fullest co-operation from the Sri Lanka Motorcycle Club.

Motorcycles Group ‘O’ 125 cc (4 stroke) 1. Sanjeeva Udayakumara, 2. M.C.S. Perera, 3. C. Sampath Subasinghe.

Motor Cycle Group ‘O’ 125 cc (2 stroke) 1. S. Ismath Noor, 2. Thuwan Princy, 3. M.C.P. Weerasinghe.

Motor Cars Group SL-N over 12 kg - 1. Upulwan Serasinghe, 2. Rohan J. Fernando, 3. Prasanna de Alwis.

Motorcycles Group sm upto 250 cc - 1. Udesh Wedisinghe, 2. Sujith Karunasekera, 3. Sandeep Vidarshika.

Motor Cycles Group ‘P’ upto 125 cc (2 stroke) - 1. Shalindra Britto, 2. V.T. Vijayakumar, 3. S. Ismath Noor.

Motor Cars Group SL-N (NISSAN March) - 1. Ashan Silva, 2. S.A. Harsha, 3. Pasindu Pieris.

Motor Cars Group SL-N Mini 7 upto 1,000 cc - results withheld due to protests.

Motorcycles Group MX Super Motard 450 cc - 1. Indika P. Jayasooriya, 2. Shane Gunawardena, 3. Upali Jayasooriya.

Motor Cycles Group ‘R’ Racing upto 125 cc (2 stroke) - 1. Prabath Pieris, 2. Nalinka Fernando, 3. Rohan D. Pathirana.

Motor Cars Group SL-A upto 1050 cc - 1. Saman Attanayake, 2. Mahen Madugalle, 3. Ajith Keerthi.

Motor Cars Group SL-N over 10 upto 12 kg - 1. Dinesh Senanayake, 2. Pasindu Pieirs, 3. Dilan Seneviratne.

Motorcycles Group ‘O’ upto 250 cc (4 stroke) - 1. Maduranga Caldera, 2. Udesh Chathuranga, 3. Prasanna Subasinghe.