Ashan and Aravind — trail blazers
With the absence of defending champion Dinesh Deheragoda, Ashan Silva proved his might becoming the champion driver while Indian rider K.P. Aravind retained his crown as the champion rider at the 23rd Fox Hill Supercross motor racing event held at Diyatalawa yesterday.
Champions: Ashan Silva (L) and K.P. Aravind (R)
The team championship for drivers was snatched by Ezy Racing represented by top drivers Sajad Zuhair and Dilan Seneviratne while the combination of Shanuka Aravinda and Imal Manchanayake gave Honda the team title for riders.
The main event of the Fox Hill Supercross – the SLGT event – had 14 top drivers and it was conducted in two stages where seven drivers each competed. The top five drivers of each stage were then slotted into a deciding battle. Eventual champion Ashan Silva won the first stage of the two qualifiers while the second round was won by Missaka Naveen. However Silva was all geared up to see the end with a checked flag and that’s what he did. He outplayed top contenders in the trade such as Aravinda Premadasa, Pasindu Peiris, Janaka Dias, Rizvi Farook, Dilan Seneviratne and even gave very little room for the second stage winner Naveen.
Silva returned to form after a lapse of nearly six months, in which period he stayed out from competitions conducted by the Sri Lanka Autosports Drivers Association or SLADA. Defending champion driver Dinesh Deheragoda announced in advance that he would not compete at this year’s Fox Hill Supercross while Ushan Perera was placed second. 10-time champion driver Aravinda Premadasa had to be contended as the runner-up in the SLGT event.
The champion rider was picked from Class MX 125cc to 150cc trail motorcycles which also had two stages. The champion, Aravind gave early indications of retaining his title by outsmarting close rival Shehan C. Adikari in both stages. Adikari emerged the runner-up. With top contender Gayan Sandaruwan opting out due to an injury and Ishan Dasanayake, who was placed third in the first stage being forced to pull out owing
Champion driver Ashan Silva takes the checked flag
an accident, the top two riders had very little resistance from the rest.
Kushan Peiris became the youngest driver to win three events by claiming the victories of SLN Ford Laser/Mazda 1500cc, which had the most number of competitors –17, Ford Laser/Mazda 1300cc and SLS Class Cars 1500cc events. Ishan Dasanayake easily claimed the victory of the MX 125cc Racing event with a margin of over 200 metres from the remaining contenders. Shanuka Sandaruwan won both races of the M Class 250cc street trail bike event.
Both rounds of the SLH 1600cc Cars event was triumphed by Sajad Zuhair while Damith Weerasinghe and Upulwan Serasinghe were placed second and third respectively in both rounds.
Imal Manchanayake outclassed top riders Suraj Perera, Ananda Sampath Weerasinghe and Sachira Gimhana to snatch the victory of one of the fastest motorcycle events of the day, the SM 125cc to 750cc event. Sri Lanka Army’s very own Brigadier Ravi Mayadunne won a double in the Truck and Jeep event by piping out Ishraq Wahab in both rounds of the event.
K.P. Aravind defended his title - Pix by Ishan Sanjeewa