The thrilling third Sri Lanka Armoured Corps (SLAC) organized ‘Cavalry Supercross’ stormed the Pangolla racing track at Kurunegala Sunday (3), amidst a sea of racing enthusiasts, headed by Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, the pioneer of the event who graced the occasion as Chief Guest.

This third ‘Cavalry Supercross’, a novel experience of the Sri Lanka Armoured Corps on this 60 ft wide 1.4 km long gravel track with 5 corners, came about, following a concept, mooted by Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, himself. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya ceremonially inaugurated the event by cutting a ribbon and hoisting the national flag. He symbolically signalled the onset of the first motorbike race.   

The pioneers in the field, Sri Lanka Association of Racing Drivers and Riders (SLARDAR) has given its blessings to the event and agreed to account the event as the 5th CEAT SLARDAR Championship (2010 – 2012), through which best racing champions are selected for both national and international events in the future.

The Sri Lanka Armoured Corps made history entering this field as the 5th Army unit to be associated with annual Motor Racing events in the Army. Diyatalawa (Sri Lanka Military Academy), Boyagane (Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment), Saliyapura (Gajaba Regiment), Minneriya (Sri Lanka Artillery) and Walawe (Sri Lanka Army Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) have been conducting those annual racing events on a grand scale for the last 20 years. ‘Cavalry Supercross’ was the new entrant to the field as the 5th organizer in the year 2010.

Proceeds from this charity project are to be used for promotion of welfare facilities among families of War Heroes, either killed / wounded in action or went missing during the battles that ended in the year 2009. The ‘Cavalry Supercross’   was lavishly sponsored by CEAT Sri Lanka as the main sponsor in the event and was competed by many island-wide reputed racing stalwarts in more than 24 car and motorbike events. Of those events there were 11 items for racing cars while 13 motorbike events composed the rest of the programme.

This new ‘Ironside’ Pangolla Racing Track, erected within a short span of time due to untiring efforts of the officers and soldiers in the SLAC, is able to accommodate more than 15,000 spectators at a time and has a grand stand capacity for 1000 more invitees.  

The overall Championship in Motorbike Racing was won by Gayan Sandaruwan, the renowned rider in the country. He obtained the highest number of points from both MX-250 cc events and received the Sonna Vander Hoeven Memorial Challenge Trophy. In closely contested Car Racing events, Ashan Silva emerged as the Champion Driver and received the trophies from the Commander of the Army. He collected the most number of points from both SL-GT 3500 cc events during motor racing.

The closing ceremony of the event saw the Commander of the Army accepted a cheque worth Rs 2 million with Mrs Manjulika Jayasuriya, President Seva Vanitha Army Branch (SVAB) towards the ongoing ‘Abimansala - 2’ project at Kamburupitiya.

Major General Milinda Peiris, Vice Chancellor of the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) received the Commander on arrival. A large number of retired senior SLAC officers participated in the event as distinguished invitees.