The Sigiriya Rally Cross, hosted in the heritage city, drew in large crowds of spectators over the weekend to see the ‘Triple S’ combination once again provide nail biting excitement. Commentators concluded by referring to it as some of the best races of the day. Sri Lanka’s first-ever international motor racing team EZY Racing continued to demonstrate sheer passion and guts, when National Champion, Sajaad Zuhair and new talent on board Sachith Pathirana and Shenal Gunawardana took on the Sigiriya challenge to win 5 podiums.
EZY Racing started with the SLE 1000CC event, the second race for the day. Sachith Pathirana set the pace for a grueling fight as he went off-track in the first lap. Overcoming the setback, Pathirana came back strong to secure third place until Yasith lost control during the third lap, leaving way for Pathirana to finish the race in at second place.
Pathirana during his SLA 1050 CC event lost control during the last corner of lap 2 and fought back to secure second place to Rangana. Even though Pathirana fell short of 1st place, his determination was commendable as he continued the race with a punctured tire , post ramming into the tire wall.
Teenage driving prodigy and ‘Silent Attacker’, Shenal Gunawardana, time after time demonstrates driving skills that are beyond his age. Gunawardana finished in at second for the SLH 1600 race after having started fifth on the grid. Commended for his valiant effort, the youngster drove with resolve to catch up with the race leaders with an extra ordinary display of motor racing skills. Shenal was later demoted two positions for an incident that occurred while overtaking Zahir Wahab for second place.
Gunawardana’s pet event that brought him in to the spotlight, the 1500 CC Ford Laser, was another race by the EZY Racing driver that should have not been missed. Starting third on the grid, he gave race leader, Kushan Peiris a strong fight and followed him closely behind in second place. An exemplary display of his racing prowess left him finishing the event in second place. Gunawardana being the youngest on the track believed it wasn’t a disadvantage, but rather an opportunity to further refine himself given the skilled contenders he raced with.
The SLS 1500 race was undoubtedly the best race as EZY Racer Sajaad Zuhair fended off stiff competition to closely guard his position as race leader. The nail biting race started off with Zuhair second on the grid, as he raced ahead to beat Zaakir who started the race off in pole position.
Zuhair broke into the SLGT 3500CC category earlier this year at the Katukurunda Races and is one of the latest additions to the category, taking on the class from previous EZY Racer Dilan Seneviratne. Zuhair continues to push though with his expertise and experience as a National Champion and ace racer in Sri Lanka.
Into his third lap of the SLGT Race 1, Zuhair faced an engine issue causing a delay to him rejoining the race, resulting in him retiring. Coming back with stronger intentions of winning in the SLGT Race 2, Zuhair fought his way up and finished the race in at fifth place.
Commenting on the race, the Founder of EZY Racing, Shafraz Hamzadeen said “This weekend was certainly a weekend full of learnings for us. We are a team in transition this year, so we know we aren’t going to have the same number of wins we had in the past . Sajaad (SLGT) and Shenal (SLH) are both driving key events for the first time , therefore we know it’s going to be a few more races before we really get ourselves into a race winning position. The SLS event is the only familiar event for us and Sajaad delivered yet another spectacular drive in it to give us another victory. Shenal is also showing great pace in the races. It was unfortunate that Sachith missed out on victory this weekend in the 1050 modified event. I guess there is a bit of work to do there, but we are hopefull of overcoming this together as a team.”
The team will shift their focus into pursuing the Cavalry Supercross later this month, while Mike Young, EZY Racing’s international front runner prepares for the upcoming Rally in Australia, for the second leg of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2016.
EZY Racer, Sajaad Zuhair during his winning moment for the SLS 1500 race
Youngest of the team, Shenal Gunawardana, placed second for the 1500CC Ford Laser race
Sachith Pathirana in second place for the SLE 1000CC race