Three class records broken at Radella

S M Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Correspondent reporting from Radella

Three class records were broken and Ashan de Silva sparkled to clock the overall fastest timing of the day at the Annual Radella Speed Hill Climb organized by the Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR) worked off at the Radella Short Cut at Nanu Oya on Saturday.

A big bouquet should go to the organizers for conducting the meet in an excellent manner with the events run on time. The results were released immediately on conclusion of the meet.

For the spectators there was plenty of thrills but no spills as the track was in good condition.

Ashan de Silva, a comparatively newcomer to motor racing put up a sparkling display in the Super Care event in his Mitsubishi Evolution 9 to register the fine timing of 33.19 seconds and a little more effort could have clipped the course record. Romani de Silva making a come back to the hill climb scene and driving a Subaru Impreza drove with a lot of power to finish a close second with a timing of 33.95 seconds. Former champion driver finished third in his Mitsubishi Evolution 7 with a time of 34.13 seconds. A very close fight was witnessed between this trio.

The first record to go was in the event for motor cars - Mini 7 upto 1000 cc in which Shashika Lakmal Wijeratne driving a Austin Mini did a blistering run to time 46.90 seconds to erase the class record of 47.24 seconds held by Ajith Hemachandra. Kandan Parameswaran driving a Mini Minor who finished second also clipped off the existing record.

Shrian Samuel dominated the events for motor cycles by walking away with two class records. He first broke the class for standard motor cycles upto 250 cc with a timing of 41.78 seconds in his Honda. He also lowered the class record for Standard and Modified motorcycles upto 600 cc with a timing of 39.75 seconds. Shrian Samuel has been in fine form since of late. He won two events at the Kandy Street Racing last month with some fine runs.

Young Dilan Senaviratne also put up a fine display by winning the highly competitive event for SL-N Care upto 1600 cc in his Honda SIR with an excellent timing of 37.53 seconds. But he was given a close fight by two other top drivers and last year's winner Pasindu Peiris and Ashan de Silva. By out pacing these two top drivers who have given top displays in this championship, is an indication that Dilan Seneviratne is a driver to watch in the future. He is also a good exponent on formula racing.

Dinesh Senanayake driving a Suzuki Swift won the event for Group SL-N Cars upto 1500 cc with a good time of 43.79 seconds and had a near 2 second lead over the second placed Jagath Munasinghe.

Leelananda Krishnaratne from the hill capital well-known for his racing on his now luxury Healy Sprite was seen driving a Maruti Zen in the Group SL-N cars upto 1000 cc and he competed with the Minis to win this event with comparative came with a timing of 47.96 seconds. He had a near four seconds lead over the second placed Dilan Perera.

Ajith Keerthi continued his winning round by winning trend by winning the event for Modified Cars upto 1050 cc with a timing of 42.88 seconds but he was given a very close fight by motor racing broadcaster and planter Mahen Madugalle who timed 43.20 seconds in his Austin Mini. Mahen Madugalle a former hockey player and ruggerite did well at the recently concluded Kandy Street Night racing by winning this event.

Motorcycles:

Group O Standard Motor Cycles upto and including 125 cc (2 stroke).

1. W Heyshan Pasindu (Yamaha) 41.09 secs. 2. Shane Silva (Yamaha) 42.59 secs. 3. Kaushal Saranga (Yamaha) 42.50 secs.

Group P Standard and Modified motorcycles upto 600 cc (2. Stroke and 4 stroke):

1. Shrian Samuel (Yamaha) 39.75 secs. (New Class Record), 2. Vijaya Kumar (Yamaha) 40.79 secs. 3. Shoun Lappen (Honda) 43.90 secs.

Group P Standard and Modified Motorcycles Street and Trail upto 250 cc (2 stroke):

1. Shane Silva (Honda) 40.16 secs. 2. Manjula Jayasundera (Honda) 43.90 secs. 3. S Vasudewan (Honda) 43.91 secs.

Group O Standard Motorcycles upto and including 125 cc (4 stroke)

1. S D Weerasinghe (Honda) 47.40 secs. 2. Ananda Weerasinghe (Honda) 48.49 secs. 3. Rohan Pathirana (Yamaha) 52.35 secs.

Group MX Racing upto 125 cc (2 stroke):

1. Chinthaka Nishantha (Honda) 41.11 secs. 2. Sangeeth Suriyage (Honda) 41.56 secs. 3. S Vasudewan (Yamaha) 41.57 secs.

Group Racing MX Motorcycles upto 125 cc (2 stroke) and 250 cc (4 stroke):

1. Sarath Kumarasinghe (Honda) 37.68 secs.

Group O Standard Motorcycles upto 250cc (4 stroke):

1. Shrian Samuel (Honda) 41.78 secs (New Class Record)

2. B Weerasinghe (Honda) 45.23 secs. 3. M C S Perera (Honda) 46.60 secs.

Group MX Racing Motorcycles upto 85 cc:

1. Vijitha Perera (Kawasaki) 43.93 secs. 2. Dhammika Nishantha (Honda) 44.20 secs. 3. W M Heyshan Pasindu (Kawasaki) 44.34 secs.

Group MX Motorcycles over 250 cc and upto and including 450 cc:

1. Sujith Karunasekera (Honda) 40.57 secs. 2. Wikum Ranjith (Honda) 43.38 secs.

Group SM Super Motard Motorcycles over 250 cc (2 stroke) and upto 450 cc (4 stroke):

1. Ramal Pathiratne (Yamaha) 38.54 secs. 2. Ushan Perera (Yamaha) 39.57 secs. 3. Wijitha Perera (Yamaha) 42.31 secs.

Motor Cars

Group SL-M Cars One Make Event Nissan March:

1. Ushan de Silva 52.73 secs. 2. Ravi Bhagya 52.96 secs.

Group SL-N Care Upto 1600 cc:

1. Dilan Senaviratne (Honda SIR) 37.53 secs. 2. Pasindu Peiris (Honda EG 6) 37.63 secs. 3. Ashan Silva (Honda Civic) 37.81 secs.

Group SL-N Cars 1500 cc:

1. Dinesh Senanayake (CS Suzuki Swift) 43.79 secs. 2. Jagath Munasinghe (Mazda Astina) 45.43 secs. 3. Auwshard Rahim (Suzuki Swift) 46.99 secs.

Group SL-A Care upto 1050 cc:

1. Ajith Keerthi (Austin Mini) 42.88 secs. 2. Mahen Madugalle (Austin Mini) 43.20 secs. 3. Upali Perera (Austin Mini) 44.09 secs.

Group SL-N Cars upto 1000 cc:

1. Leelananda Krishnaratne (Maruti Zen) 47.96 secs. 2. Dilan Perera (Austin Mini) 51.82 secs. 3. Mahen Hurulle (Austin Mini) 56.58 secs.

Mini 7 upto 1000 cc

1. Shashika Lakmal Wijeratne (Austin Mini) 46.90 secs (New Class Record) 2. Kandan Parameswaran (Morris Minis) 47.14 secs. 3. W M K Wickramasinghe (Austin Mini) 48.01 secs.

Group SLGT Upto 3500 cc Super Cars

1. Ashan de Silva (Mitsubishi Evolution 9) 33.19 secs. 2. Romani de Silva (Subaru Impreza) 33.95 secs. 3. Arvinda Premadasa (Mitsubishi Evolution 7) 34.13 secs.

Fastest Timing Motor Cars:

Ashan de Silva 33.19 secs.

Fastest Timing Motorcycles

Sarath Kumarasinghe 37.68 secs.

Overall Fastest Timing of the day

Ashan de Silva - 33.19 secs.