Janaka, Visal Stars at Katukurunda Rotherham Circuit Meet 2008
Rider Visal Thilina Fernando and driver Janaka Dias were the stars
at Rotherham Circuit Meet Katukurunda on Sunday organised by Sri
Lanka Association for Racing Drivers and Riders along in association
with Sri Lanka Air Force.
Visal Fernando won the triple this day winning Racing Motor cycles
for 125 cc ahead of Krishan Dias and went onto make it a double
later when he out ran Udesh Chathuranga in the 250 cc class. Once
again he had the better of Krishan Dias in the open event for Group
D modified category to win the third event for the day which also
brought him the U.D. Jinadasa Trophy for the Best Rider of the day.
Meanwhile Janaka Dias who did a classy drive to win the Group SL-GT
Cars upto 3500 cc which was also the last event for the day. He was
behind the wheel of his Subaru WRX Sti. This race was the most
interesting as last year's champion Dinesh Deheragoda and four times
champion Aravinda Premadasa in battle. The first race of this was
won by Aravinda with Janaka taking the second slot. Deheragoda in
his new Mitsubishi Evo X though came out of the paddock could not
face the starter due to a technical problem.
Deheragoda entered the second race and everyone was expecting a
three cornered battle with Aravinda and Janaka.
Aravinda was infront with Janaka right behind him, but tragedy
struck for Aravinda when his vehicle failed. At this stage it was
Janaka in lead with Deheragoda way back in fourth position due to
few mishaps at cops corner. Deheragoda made every effort and was
catching up with the leaders with two lap to go once he went out of
the track and lost valuable time but managed to finish behind the
winner. Janaka had the best drive in this event, he never had
problems right through the event and received the chequered flag
quite comfortably.
Ashan Silva too drove a Mitsubishi Evo III to win the SL-H Cars upto
3500 cc class comfortably pushing Janaka Dias to second slot who was
driving Mitsubishi Evo V. Dinesh Jayawardene more famous for the
1600 cc class driving his Honda DHL special was a clear winner in
this category. Dinesh was chased by Buddhika de Silva and Pasindu
Peiris. Dinesh who had a fine start was in front and was never seen
having problem from the other drivers who were way behind him.
Earlier in the same class he was placed third behind young Pasindu
Peiris and Upulwan Serasinghe. Here, Jayawardena could not get off
to a good start.
Yoga Perera a veteran in the Mini Class 1050 cc came up with fine
performance to win his class handling his morris Mini in grand
style. He finished before Surindu Gunewardena and Susantha
Gunewardena.
Dhammika Peiris another veteran on this track failed to impress in
the Ford Laser/Mazda class when he finished behind Chaminda
Weerasooriya. Later in the day he had a another second place in the
12 kg category. Upulwan Serasinghe was the winner here.
Upulwan Serasinghe won a double, winning the Ford Laser/Mazda Class
in the second race of the day for this class.
Pasindu Peiris who was expecting many could not achieve the best but
managed to win 10-12 kg class and was placed second in two other
races. Buddhika de Silva managed a win in the 8-10 kg category.
Damith Abeyratne was the winner in the SL-A Cars upto 1400 cc, with
W.A.G. Rangana another veteran in this class finished behind Damith.
In the Motor cycle event it was a keen tussle with almost every
event witnessing the top riders Krishan Dias, Visal Fernando, Ramal
Pathiratne, Rohana Jayaratne and Suraj Perera competing.
It was interesting to note that three Maldivian riders competing for
the first time on a track of this nature. Speaking to Daily News
Manager of the team Ahamed Haikel said that his boys were nervous
and could not make a great impact.
The riders in Maldives have no experience at all. In fact they have
never race before even on their home soil. It was a great experience
for our riders. They were highly delighted and want to visit Sri
Lanka in the future too, said Haikel.
He said all these were possible due to the efforts of Shrian Samuel
who made arrangements for us to make it the meet without any
inconvenience. As we could not bring our bikes he volunteered to
supply my riders with the bikes that were needed to race here.
We are very thankful to Samuel for his generosity, said Haikel.