Drivers and riders ready for 'Speed Championship'

Round two of the Speed Championship 2012 organized by Sri Lanka Motor Cycle Club will be held at the Pannala International Circuit on May 27, commencing at 9.00a.m.

The Championship will see all leading drivers and riders get involved in a battle to take the lead which is vital for them to move up before the next round scheduled for next July.

After undergoing hard training at the Speed Drome at Battaramulla, driving GoKarts and ProKarts, young Formula drivers qualified for the 1300cc class and will be hoping to impress at the event on May 27. The Speed Drome was able to produce ten young drivers to compete in this class in 2011 and the following year saw over twenty drivers attend training but after trials only ten were selected to race this year due to lack cars of this calibre.

The young drivers who took part last year had to give way to the youngsters who emerged as new drivers for the year 2012, but the organizers did not allow them to leave the sport completely and introduced a new car, Suzuki Alto K10, for them to race and to continue with the sport.

In round one, it was Tharindu Gamage who took honors and will go flat out to maintain his top position in the rankings.

Last year's drivers of the Formula 1300 are to compete with Suziki Alto K10 for the new championship where Praveen Madugalle has come top in round one.

Dinesh Dehragoda leads the SL-GT car up to 3500cc class when he won the round comfortably ahead of Ashan Silva, Pasindu Peiris and Janaka Dias.

In addition to these three major events there are other interesting events such as the Nissan March One Make Class where the spectators can watch a good battle between S.A. Harsha and S.A. Lakshika a brother and a sister.

Two of them will try their best to overcome the challenges expected from senior drivers Harsha Panduwawala and Dhammika Peiris.

In the Ford Formula 1600cc (Pre and Post 85) it will be a battle for supremacy beween Dinesh Jayawardene, veteran Rihan de Silva and Ashan Silva.

Dinesh is the current leader in this class and it will be his intention to hang on to his lead with a victory here and to go for the 2012 championship. Last year too Dinesh was the winner and it will be of great importance to make it a double by winning it again.

The other interesting car events on this day will be the two events lined up for Ford Laser/Mazda 1300 and 1600cc class.

These two events too will be contested by leading drivers in this class Upulwan Serasinghe and Lalin Kirinde and the youngest driver Kushan Peiris.

A total of eight Motor Cycle events too are lined up to be run on this day. According to the organizers all leading riders including last year's champions in various categories are expected to compete at this meet hoping to have a go for the championship.

The two leading riders Maduranga Caldera and Sampath Kumara and many other riders are expected show abilities to pose a big threat to top ranked riders.

In the Super Motard Class it is expected to see the famous Udesh Wedisinghe come out with a classy performance to thrill the large crowds that is expected to witness these dare riders.