Kandy Speed night concludes in style
 

S M Jiffrey Abdeen
Kandy Sports Correspondent

Javidh Wahab (SLGT cars) and Suraj Perera (motor cycles) stole the limelight at the 2nd Kandy Speed at Night organized by the Kandy Off Road Adventure Club and the Sri Lanka Motor Cycle Club which was worked off in the streets of Kandy on Saturday night witnessed by a very large crowd.

There were a few minor spills which was made up by the thrills exhibited by the drivers and riders and relished by the motor racing fans.

Javidh Wahab on the heels of his illustrious father Cassim was the master of the day behind the four wheels and put up a gritty performance to win the Super Cars event behind Subaru ST I, Javidh had complete control of this event which was for super cars upto 3500 cc. In second place was a comparatively new comer in Manish Gunatillake behind a Subaru Impressa. Both drove well and did not take undue risk despite the fact that right of the turn offs were at right angles. In third place was Rizvi Farouk, a well known exponent of Honda V Tec and is now competing in the higher class. Rizvi Farouk too gave a superb exhibition of driving in his Subaru showing glimpses of his form during his V Tec days when he called the shots in that event both in the road races and hill climbs.

The other top performer was rider Suraj Perera who rode a Honda CRF to win the Super Motard Open event though given a torrid time from behind by Udesh Wedisinghe in a same type of machine with similar capacity. Another veteran rider Ramal Pathiratne finished third.

The other top event of Racing and Modified between 600 cc and 1000 cc was won by Shrian Samuel who put up a stirring display in his Yamaha 600 cc and Prasanna Subhasinghe was placed second.

Shrian Samuel achieved his second success for the evening when he won the Standard event upto 250 cc in his Honda pushing another veteran rider Maduranga Caldera into second place which was no mean achievement. Last year too Samuel won two events.

Another event which caught the attraction of the spectators was the SL-A Modified event upto 1000 cc which was won by Lakmal Wijeratne and cricketer Sachith Pathirana put up a brave fight from behind to finish second and Dilan Perera finished third.

In the higher capacity Laser/Mazda event of 1500 cc Duminda Jayasinghe better known for his exploits in the Trucks and Jeeps event came good here to win this event despite being pressed from behind by Upulwan Serasinghe better known for his toss ups who finished second. In third place was hill capitals Sukeewa Karawita. All three drivers displayed class and control of their machines.

In the event for motor cars upto 1000 cc Harsha Panduwawala continued his winning streak by winning this event. But a big struggle was witnessed between sister S A Lakshitha and brother S A Duminda before the ‘deadlier of the two species’ out paced the brother. Both are off springs of former Mini Specialist late S A Amarasiri.

This was a well organized meet and the President of the Kandy Off Road Adventure Club Chula Ratwatte thanked the Governor of the Central Province Tikiri Kobbekaduwa, Chief Minister of CP Sarath Ekanayake, UPFA Parliamentarian Lohan Ratwatte, Mayor of Kandy Mahen Ratwatte, the Police, the Army and the Committee members of the Club for working round the clock to make this event a success.

The Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake was the Chief Guest at the Awards Ceremony held immediately after the race.
To the credit of the organizers most of the sand bags which were placed along the route of the race was removed immediately after the completion of the event.

Results
Motor Cycles
Motor Cycles Group ‘O’ Standard upto 125 cc (4 strokes)
1. Sudath Weerasinghe, 2. Jaden Gunawardena, 3. Chaminda Subhasinghe

Motor Cycles Group ‘O’ Standard upto 125 cc (2 strokes)
1. Shane Mark Silva, 2. Thuwan Princy, 3. R A R Kumara

Motor Cycles Group ‘SM’ Super Motard upto 250 cc
1. Ken Wedisinghe, 2. Udesh Wedisinghe, 3. H P Sujith Karunasekera

Motor Cycles Group ‘R’ Racing and Modified upto 125 cc
1. Prabath Peiris, 2. S K Tiron, 3. Chathura Madusanka

Motor Cycles Group ‘O’ Standard upto 250 cc (4 strokes)
1. Shrian Samuel, 2. Maduranga Caldera, 3. Nishantha Ranatunga

Motor Cycles Group ‘R’ Racing and Modified Between 600 cc and 1000 cc
1. Shrian Samuel, 2. Prasanna Subhasinghe, 3. Prasad Aluthge

Motor Cycles Group ‘SM’ Super Motard Open
1. Suraj Perera, 2. Udesh Wedisinghe, 3. Ramal Pathiratne

Motor Cars
Group SL-N Standard upto 1000 cc
1. Harsha Panduwawala, 2. S A Lakshika, 3. S A Duminda

Motor Cars Group SL-N Ford Laser/Mazda 1300 cc One Make event
1. Prasanna de Alwis, 2. Janith Kumarage, 3. Lalin Kirinda

Motor Cars Group SL-A Modified upto 1050 cc
1. Ajith Keerthi, 2. Sithara Peiris, 3. Sachith Pathirana

Motor Cars Group SL-A Mini 7 upto 1000 cc
1. Lakmal Wijeratne, 2. Sachith Pathirana, 3. Dilan Perera

Group SL-N Ford Laser/Nissan March 1500 cc
1. Duminda jayasinghe, 2. Upulwan Serasinghe, 3. Sujeewa Karawita

Motor Cars Group SL-H upto 1600 cc
1. Sajjad Zuhair, 2. Lakmal Wijeratne, 3. S A Harsha

Motor Cars Group SL-GT upto 3500 cc
1. Javidh Wahab, 2. Manish Gunatillake, 3. Rizvi Farouk