Nations Trust Southern Eliyakande Hill Climb on March 14-15

Bernard Perera

Southern Motor Sports Club (SMSC) has made arrangements to hold the Nations Trust Southern Eliyakanda Hill Climb and Beach Motor Cross 2009 on March 14 - 15. The Event comprises of 16 motor cycle events and 19 Motor Cars/Jeeps events. The meet is scheduled to be at Matara Kotuwegoda Beach and Browns Hill, most popularly knows as Eliyakanda, Matara.

Southern Eliyakanda Hill climb is one of the most challenging & the “Queen” of the Hill Climb competitions in Sri Lanka. This is a well known national motor sports meet, conducted according to international sporting rules & regulations as far as the resources available in Sri Lanka permit to do so. This motoring event has been acknowledged by the competitors as one of the best & most challenging Hill Climbs conducted in Sri Lanka.

There were over 100 entries at the previous meet with all leading drivers and riders in the country competing. This year too a stiff competition is expected as most the competitors who participated last meet are expected.

According to rules a competitor is given two runs and the fastest of the two by each competitor shall be taken as that competitors’ best time of the day. A competitor in each class, who is the fastest, will be adjudged the Winner in his class & awards will be made to the first three in each class on that basis.

In the case of both motor cycles & the motor cars, the engines will be running at the start. Vehicles will start individually from the start line strictly according to the positions held at the start during line up by start line marshals.

Timing of each competitor will be done with the aid of electronic timing equipment installed at the start & the finish. The infrared beams sent by the timings are cut by the competing vehicle, recording the time taken for the run, to 1/100 of a second. The better of the timings of two ascents of the competitors will count for the final results.

The SMSC is planning to award an array of Trophies to the winners of the individuals & those of the whole event as well.

Trophies will be awarded to those competitors placed 1st, 02nd & 3rd in each class of the event & to the competitor recording the fastest time for the day for motor cycles & cars.

In addition, trophies will also be awarded to the ‘Fastest Rider’ and ‘Fastest Driver’. The awards distribution ceremony will be held on the 15th March 2009 at Pearl Cliff Hotel, Browns Hill, Matara soon after the completion of the events.

The SMSC has well recognized the importance of creating the right ambience & vibes in providing both the competitors & the spectators with maximum excitement and enjoyment at their meets.

Beach Motor Cross will be start on Saturday, 14 March at 2.00 pm at Matara, Kotuwegoda Beach and there will be more than sixty competitors taking part in this event including champion riders Gayan Sandaruwan, Indika Gurusinghe and many leading who will show there skills to keep the spectators thrilled.

This years’ Hill Climb and Beach Motor Cross is proudly sponsored by the Nations Trust Bank while the co-sponsors are AMW (Suzuki Maruti), Browns Group (Exide Battery), Harishchandra Mills and Derana TV as Electronic Media Sponsor.

More details can be obtained from Ashhar Hameem on 0777-225555 or Dimuth Bambravanage on 0777-302727