Darin, fastest at Mahagastota

S M Jiffrey Abdeen - Kandy Sports Corr

Darin Weerasinghe clocked the fastest timing of the day while cricketer Sachith Pathirana won an event and veteran Ananda de Alwis completes fiftieth year at Mahagastota were the highlights of the 79th Mahagastota Speed Hill Climb organised by the Ceylon Motor Sports Club and worked off at Blackpool, Nanu Oya.

The last run of the super cars event could not be completed due to a drizzle which later turned out to be a shower and the organizers decided to call off the meet at that point.

Daring Weerasinghe, son of the famous Bandula Weerasinghe who at one time held three class records at Mahagastota showed that he is the ‘chip of the old block’ when he timed 35.782 seconds in his Subaru STI X which was just two seconds outside the overall course record held by Rohan de Silva and Nishan Weerasinghe.

Sachith Pathirana better known in the cricketing circles having led the country's under 19 cricket team displayed what a versatile sportsman he is turning out when he won the mini 7 1000cc event with a timing of 45.003 seconds getting the better of two other top drivers with experience Donald Buultjens (45.060 secs) and Saffraf Junaid (45.258 secs) with milli seconds separating the trio.

Ananda de Alwis kept a record which will take decades to break and one which could not be overhauled in a day when he drove his old Ford Mexico for the 50th year at Mahagastota which is a world record.

Ananda took part in his first hill climb in 1963 and he has participated since then without a break. He clinched the third place with a timing of 50.082 in the event for SL-N cars between 8.0 and 10.0 Kg/BHP which was won by Dharsha Pathirana of Kandy driving a Modern Nissan SR 20 with a timing of 42.227 seconds.

The new event MClarens, Alto K10 cup 1000CC was grabbed by Dinesh Jayawardena of Team Mobil with a timing of 45.197 seconds which will go down as a class record and veteran Bri Ponnambalam making his appearance at Mahagastota after a lapse of three years was placed second with a timing of 45.961 secs.

In fact Sri Ponnambalam could have won this event as he had the best timing of 45.014 seconds in his second run but a cruel fate robbed him of this opportunity when one of the drivers failed to compete in the second run. The rules of the competition is that all competitors should complete their second runs as otherwise only the timings of the first run will be taken into reckoning.

Motor Cycles

85cc open: 1.J A Erantha Tharaka 41.550 secs, 2. W M Heshan Pasindu 41.913 secs, G G Sampath Pradeep Chaminda 42.393 secs.

Group ‘O’ Standard upto 125cc (2 stroke)

1. D A Shane Silva 41.659 secs, 2. K Sivalingam 45.224 secs, 3. V T Wijekumar 47.050 secs

Group ‘O’ Standard upto 125cc (4 stroke single cylinder)

1. Sudath Weerasinghe 46.046 secs, 2. Vijitha Dhanushka 47.874 secs, 3. P M Supun Dhanushka 48.284 secs

Group ‘O’ Standard upto 250cc (4 stroke)

1. maduranga Caldera 44.858 secs, 2. V T Wijekumar 45.151 secs, 3. I Sivalingam 45.268 secs.

Racing Motor Cycles upto 125CC

1. W M Chinthaka Nishantha 41.949 secs, 2. Vasudewan Silvalingam 42.706 secs, 3. Eranga Weerasinghe 57.820 secs

Racing Motor Cycles upto 250CC

1. Shaffroz Junaid 39.304 secs, 2. M G Sarath Kumarasinghe 39.419 secs, 3. Sangeeth Suriyage 41.529 secs

Motor Cycles Open event

1. Shafforz Junaid 39.061 secs, 2. Haritha Pilapitiya 41.583 secs, 3. Riley Wanigasekera 41.980 secs

Group ‘O’ Street Trail Standard Bikes upto 250CC

1. M G Sarath Kumarasinghe 41.677 secs, 2. D A Shane Silva 42.046 secs, 3. Vasudewan Sivalingam 43.005 secs.

Motor Cars

McLarens Alto K10 Cup 1000CC

1. Dinesh Jayawardena 45.197 secs, 2. Bri Pannambalam 45.961 secs, 3. Shirendra Lawrence 46.024 secs.

SL-N Cars upto 1000CC

1. Dammika Peiris 46.400 secs, 2. Kushan Peiris 46.818 secs, 3. Rizmin Razik 48.624 secs

One Make Ford Laser/ Mazda upto 1300CC

1. Dammika Peiris 45.742 secs, 2. Janith Kumarage 45.801 secs, 3. Kushan Peiris 46.176 secs.

One Make Mini 7 1000CC

1. Sachith Pathirana 45.003 secs, 2. Donald Buultjens 45.060 secs, 3. Shaffroz Junaid 45.258 secs.

One make Ford Laser/ Mazda upto 1500CC

1. Dammika Peiris 45.846 secs, 2. Mohan Perera 46.019 secs, 3. Kumar Samarasinghe 46.605 secs.

SL-A cars upto 1050CC

1. Donald Buultjens 44.778 secs, 2. Ajith Keerthi 44.848 secs, 3. Sithara Peiris 45.194 secs.

SL-N cars 8-0 to 10.0 KG/BHP:

1. Dharsha Pathirana 42.227 secs, 2. Sanjaya Ranasinghe 47.715 secs, 3. Ananda De Alwis 50.082 secs

SL-H cars upto 1500CC

1. Dinesh Jayawardena 39.697 secs, 2. Dilan Senaviratne 39.736 secs, 3. Sheran Fernando 41.593 secs.

Non-Turbo upto 2000CC

1. Sanjaya Sedera Senarath 44.276 secs, 2. Tyronne Hendawitharne 46.018 secs, 3. Pradeep Wijesiriwardena 46.268 secs

Group F Formula Ford 1600CC

1. Shirendra Lawrence 38.030 secs, 2. Shaffroz Junaid 38.351 secs, 3. Rohan de Silva 40.660 secs.

SLGT cars upto 3500CC

1. Darin Weerasinghe 35.782 secs, 2. Manish Gunatillake 38.157 secs, 3. Rameez Mahamoor 39.505 secs

Fastest Timing Motor Cars:

Darin Weerasinghe 35.782 secs

Fastest Timing Motor Cycles:

Shaffroz Junaid 39.061 secs

Overall Fastest Timing of the Day:

Darin Weerasinghe 35.782 secs