Gayan shines at Tissa

Bernard PERERA in Tissamaharama

MOTOR RACING: Young Gayan Sandaruwan was the star at the Carlton Super Cross at Ceylon Auto Drome circuit yesterday winning all four events he competed.

The Carlton Super Cross held in conjunction with the Tharunyata Hetak programme organised by the Tharunyata Hetak Foundation and was conducted by the Motor Racing Association.

Sandaruwan first won the motor cycles racing up to 125 CC. He had a late start and was trailing behind Tuan Ossen and Pasindu Pieris.

But moving into the third lap Sandaruwan made up for the loss and got past the leaders, with Ossen following him. Moving into the final lap Pasindu Pieris too got past Ossen to finish behind Sandaruwan to take the runners up position.

Gayan had to compete in the following race. The Gravelmoto for 250 cc category. Never say die Sandaruwan on his Honda Rebbuti got to the lead and made sure of his victory increasing his lead.

It was Ramal Pathiratne and Suraj Perera who made every effort to get closer to Sandaruwan. None of them could succeed in their attempt and finished on second and third positions.

The third victory for Sandaruwan was in the Bikes up to 250 Racing category. He too had to face stiff opposition from Tuan Ossen and Pasindu Pieris join into a lead in the first two laps.

Sandaruwan who was in full control of the earlier races made use of his talents in the jumps and got ahead of the two riders in front. From there onward it was smooth going for him until he received the chequered flag.

He made it four in a row when he won the Open event with ease. This time it was Buddhika Sandaruwan who posed a big threat to the race leader. Gayan Sandaruwan never gave an opportunity for his followers to go past him.

Buddhi Sandaruwan was the other rider to excels on this day with two victories. Buddhika won the days first even street Trail Bike Category up to 125 cc.

He was followed by Rohana Jayaratne and Akila Batepola as runners up. He also went on to win the Street Trail Bike 250 event comfortably ahead of Kamal Prasanna and Akila Batepola.

Youngster Shehan Adhikari competing in the under 13 category on a Honda CR 85 cc won the event and later went on to make it a double by winning the under 16 event too handling the same machine.

Rohana Jayaratne won the event for Gravelmoto 125 cc class ahead of Vithanage Nissanka and Neranjan Jayaweera. The under 10 event was won by Lakshan Kasturiarachchi.

The first event for Motor cars the Mini up to 1000 cc was won by K. Parameshwaran. The two runners up in this event were W. M. K. Wickramasinghe and Donald Buultjens. Pasindu Pieris who failed to win on a two wheeler made amends when he won the SL cars up to 1600 cc event driving his Honda Civic SIR II.

He was well ahead of the two runners up Rohan de Silva and Nadeera Jinasena.

Dilan Seneviratne who made an impact recently at the Katukurunda race circuit came up with a another fine performance yesterday to win the Nissan March and Make cars upto 1000 cc event in style. He was in front right from the start. He held onto his fine start until the finish to go as the winner.

Shehan De Tissera and S.A Harsha were the runners up to Dilan.Mario Dias won the SL-H 3500 class comfortably. He was behind the wheel of his Nissan Pulsar GT-R 2000 CC. Shantha Suraweera and Ameen Deane finished second and third respectively.

The T & J class saw veteran Formula driver Rohan de Silva using a Toyota Hilux 3000 CC against a field of experienced T & J class drivers Upul Perera and Ranjith Gunetilleke.

Rohan who had a better timing to be on the pole position made good use of it to go in front. He completed all as the race leader to receive the flag first.

Upulwan Serasinghe in the other driver to win a double first he won the Ford Laser upto 1500 CC class and later went into win the 8-10 kg class too. The second event saw lot of drivers go out of the track as the rains that came down disturbed the track.

The second open event for T&J class saw Army’s Col Ravi Mayadumme win the event. Here the spectators witnessed lost of thrills as the track troubled practically all the drivers when they were cornering.

The final event for the day for cars the SL-GT attracted only five competitors. The drivers had a trial run before the race. Rohan de Silva and Dinesh Jayawardena pulled out of the race as the track was not suitable for class of driving.

Dinesh Deheragoda who was favoured to win this event pulled out even without a trial run. The event was won by Janaka Dias driving his Subaru Impresa. Mahinda Premaratne and Mario Dias were placed second and third respectively.

The meet was a well organised one but it was the rain that caused a delay in finishing the day’s proceedings according to schedule.

The results of all events will be published later.