The final round of the 2017 road racing championship was held at the Mirigama ROC circuit over the weekend. The event was conducted by the Negombo Motor Sports Club (NMSC) in conjunctions with Two Wheels Motor Racing Club (TWMRC) on a grand scale with Red Bull Sri Lanka giving it fullest co-operation.
Aaron and Jaden Gunawardena two brothers aged 14 and 15 years who made their 600cc debut two months ago were once again in a class of their own. They kept the crowd entertained with their stylish riding and neck to neck battle from start to finish. There seems to be a new beginning for the Gunawardena brothers after Melwa provided them with the 600cc motorcycles, looks like they are back in action and would be riding locally too.It's a shame that top riders from team Hellibees did not participate at the last round as it would have been interesting to watch a competitive race. Jaden and Aaron who out did Shoel Daniel by almost 3 seconds per lap in the last round went on to better their personal best lap records clocking in under 50 seconds per lap. Maduranga Caldera, Lahiru Hansa, Mohamed Basith and Isuru Gunaratna got off to a flying start on their 1000cc motorcycles and put on a great show in the first few laps of the open events, but had to settle for positions behind the brothers who gradually pulled out towards the end.
With team Hellibees not having participants in the 125cc, 150cc, 250cc, 600’s, 1000’s and super motard events we saw a few new faces in the racing scene and also saw a few new faces on podiums too. The race organizers announced that there would be a facelift to racing in 2018 and plans are already made for one make events. Sponsors like Honda, Liqui Moly, Maxxis, NGK, DID and many more have shown a keen interest in joining the project and Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders SLARDAR) together with TWMRC would be spearheading the one make series in Sri Lanka.
The event co-ordinator Shane Gunawardena mentioned that one make racing would help draw young blood in to the sport and give competitors a fair chance of proving their skills. Racing teams generally focus on grabbing the best riders and uplifting their personal image and really do not care about grooming anyone to represent their country in overseas events. Shane went on to say that it has not been easy for Jaden and Aaron to do what they’ve done with their overseas racing as they had to depend on foreign championships to gain eligibility to represent Sri Lanka for the Rookies Cup in Spain and the Talent Cup in Malaysia. The plan would be to run our own championship out here and hopefully by 2019 we would be able to select a rider to represent our country for the Rookies and Talent Cup. Shane is glad that SLARDAR has come forward to help him in this project and he is also heartened that his sons are able to share their knowledge and experience to uplift motorcycle racing in Sri Lanka.
Bringing novice riders in to the racing arena is nice but he suggest that they need a few track days before they start racing to ensure that they are used to the race tracks and prevent them from being overawed by it all.
The young champs said it's the last race of the year and that they were happy with their progress on the Melwa 600cc bikes. Jaden hopes he could make it in to the Asia Talent Cup for 2018, and Aaron plans to ride the Asian Challenge once again.