National racing champs rewarded Ashan bags three

Chinthana Wasala

Ashan Silva glittered bright at the star-studded Annual SLAS Championship Awards, proving that he is the master when it comes to motor racing. The young driver bagged three main awards, becoming the most outstanding driver in categories SLH Cars upto 1600 cc, Formula 1600cc (Tarmac) and SLH Cars upto 1600 cc (gravel). The 10th annual awards night was organized by Sri Lanka Automobile Sports, the governing body for motor sports in Sri Lanka.

The award for the most watched event of all, the SL GT Supercars upto 3500cc event, was carried away by Abheeth Dangalle in the Tarmac category while superstar Dinesh Deheragoda who was back to his old form last year, bagged the award of the same event in the gravel category.

Veteran Upulwan Serasinghe once again proved his supremacy in the SL-N cars - Ford Laser/Mazda upto 1300cc and upto 1500cc categories on gravel surfaces, winning both awards to be crowned as the national champion.

Susantha Gunawardena and young Irfan Fuard were the champions in the SL-N' Ford Laser/Mazda upto 1300 cc and 1500cc categories on tarmac respectively.

In the other tarmac events, Chaminda Goonaratne (SL-F cars - Formula Mclaren 1300cc) and veteran Dhammika Peiris (SL-N Cars upto 1000 cc) emerged as the national champions while Harsha Panduwawala (SL-N Cars upto 1000 cc) and Shashika lakmal Wijeratne (SL-A- Mini 7 1000cc) bagged national awards for their respective events in the gravel category.

In the two-wheelers, Shehan C Adhikari was the star of the night, winning the 250 cc Racing Motorcross event.

The Asian under-15 podium finisher Jacques Gunawardena carried away the national championship for the under-16 motocross category.

The 11-year old star rider Jaden Gunawardena bagged the national 125 cc Four Stroke Single Cylinder event award while the award for the 250 cc Super Mortard went to Udika Srimal Malavige.

SLARDAR (Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders) was crowned the best motor racing club once again and the mechanics and tuners of the respective champions were also awarded at the grand gala.

Sports director General Ranjani Jayakody was the chief guest at this year's SLAS Championship Awards while the guests of honour were Sri Lanka Motorcycle Federation Chairman T Ragunathan and SLAS President Pradeep Kavikara.