Sanjeewa Ambawatte and Rahal Uluwita stole the limelight when they came out on top in the grueling 600km three stage Motor Plus Southern Rally event held at Matara.
The duo in their Mitsubishi Montero with tactfully drove through the wilderness and tough terrain and ended the three stage rally with only 59 points against their name.
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| The winning pair Sanjeewa Ambawatte and Rahal Uluwita in their Mitshubish Montero. |
Following in second place was Warna Ariyadasa along with his co-driver Nalaka Gunawardena with 61 while the father-son combination of S.K. Ranjith and S.K. Methunshanka secured the third slot with 70 debit points against them.
The first stage of the rally commenced from the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium and came to an end at Uda Walawe. The second stage, which began at Uda Walawe in the early hours of the morning (2.00 a.m.) culminated at the Peacock Hotel in Hambantota with the final stage from Hambantota speeding off at 2.00 p.m. the same day and coming to an end opposite the Commercial Bank in Matara.
The winning pair had a fine start in the first stage from Matara to Uda Walawe, completing it with 13 debit points. The second stage saw them having 24 against them and in the third and the final stage they ended with 22.
Rahal, who made his debut in rally events only last year, taking part in the same event in which he bagged four trophies, has never looked back since then and has gone from strength to strength.
The second pair of Warna and Nalaka in their Mitsubishi Pajero had 14, 19 and 28 against them while the third placed combination of son and father S.K. Ranjith and S.K. Methunshanka also in their Mitsubishi Pajero had 28, 14 and 28 in the three stages.
Last year’s winning combination, the ‘Shafraz double’ of Junaid and Hamsadeen, secured the fourth slot followed by Deepthi Perera and Chathura Gunawardena in fifth and Sam Chandrasena and Manju Gunawardena in sixth.
The 15th Southern Monsoon Rally saw 26 cars in the fray and turned out to be a roaring success which came in for high praise from all the competitors. Hats off to the plotter Andrew Silva who left no stone unturned with his expertise of route plotting. This time out he had Prematileke Jayatunga who he said gave him the utmost backing and whom he said he is training in the art of route plotting for events of this nature to be held in the future.
Results:
1. Sanjeewa Ambawatte (Driver) and Rahal Uluwita (Co-Driver) 59. 2. Warna Ariyadasa and Nalaka Gunawardena 61. 3. S.K. Ranjith and S.K. Methunshanka 70. 4. Shafraz Junaid and Shafraz Hamsdeen 71. 5. Deepthi Perera and Chathura Gunawardena 71. 6. Sam Chandrasena and Manju Gunawardena 76. 7. Nuwaisar Deen and Farmin Deen 93. 8. Ramesh Ubayaratne and Rajitha Uluwita 141. 9. Chamal Gunasekera and S. Sudarman 153. 10. Dr. Sanjaya S. Senarath and Chamara Wedage 156 |
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