Walawe Supercross back after five years 

Major General Chaminda Kaluarachchi, Track Operations and Standards receiving the sponsorship package from Vaithilingam Kiritharan, Country Head Causeway Paints. Also in the picture is  Anuruddha Edirisingham Head of Marketing, Causeway Paints, Nuwan Samarawickrama, President SLAMC, Sarindu Gamage, Clerk of the Course and Ramesh Malinga, Secretary SLAMSC

By M. Shamil Amit

The Uda Walawe Supercross conducted by the Sri Lanka Army Motor Sports committee of the Sri Lanka Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (SLEME) division with the support of the Southern Motor Sports Club and sponsored by Causeway Paints will return after five years at the Walawe Supercross motor track in Sevanagala Uda Walawe on July 13.

This will be the tenth in the series with the inaugural meet held in 2011 and the last being conducted in 2019 after which it came to a halt due to the Covid pandemic.

Organisers along with the sponsors say they will be looking forward to flag off and end the event in a better and bigger way than in previous years.

The track has its location at the 17th mile post near the Uda Walawe–Thanamalwila main road just outside the Army camp in close proximity to the Walawe National Park which is patronised by locals and foreign tourists.

It has become a holiday resort and with this in mind SLEME  are not leaving any stone unturned to make it a grand event after five years.

The SLEME has a proud history of over six decades in organising racing events in the past such as the Reliability Trials, Circuit meets in Kurunegala and Ratmalana and Matugama Road Races as well as in Nuwara Eliya to name a few.

The Walawe Supercross is not only fun and enjoyment for spectators but a family outing as well and SLEME is conducting the races with a worthy cause in mind.

Organisers say proceeds will be for the benefit of war survivors of the regiment as well as for differently-abled servicemen. They have been doing since the supercoss was initiated in 2011.

Ashan Silva has been the most successful driver on this track and if he is competing he will no doubt be seeking to continue his dominance in the Group SL-GT for Cars upto 3500cc.

Others in the fray are young Kushan Peiris who is a specialist in the Ford Laser/Mazda events and Ushan  Perera subject to them participating. In the motor bike events the riders to watch will be Ishan Dissanayake and Imal Manchanayake a specialist in the Super Motard events.

The organisers are expecting the participation of between 150 to 200 in both categories, car and bikes and have made arrangements to conduct 21 events comprising nine motorcycle events and 12 motor car events.

To ensure a safe and incident free event for both competitor and spectator, the organisers say they will be enforcing stringent measures for the welfare of all concerned with warning systems in place.