motorcycle rider and driver Chandra de Costa yesterday hit out at organizers of the Nuwara Eliya road races after another competitor, Dilshan Bandaranayake, lost his life in a deadly crash on Sunday.
He was the second racer to be killed inside two years after Ranjith Dhanapala succumbed to his injuries sustained at a meet last year.
De Costa told the Daily Mirror that he had sent a letter on March 5, this year to President Mahinda Rajapaksa informing him of the dangers of conducting motor car races in Nuwara Eliya and for action to stop the races.
The practice of conducting car races at Nuwara Eliya was done away with many years ago and even former president J. R. Jayewardene banned car races in Nuwara Eliya.
According to Costa, President Rajapaksa’s office subsequently sent a letter to the Municipal Commissioner of Nuwara Eliya stating that permission was given only for motorcycle races and not for cars as it was considered dangerous.
“Despite all these warnings the officials of the Motorcycle Club conducted races for cars ignoring instructions given by the hierarchy in the country”, said de Costa.
“This high handed act by these officials should be stopped immediately and the people behind it taken to task,” declared de Costa.Organisers of Sunday’s fatal race could not be reached for comment.
Experts argue that motor races have always been dangerous to motor drivers and riders in Sri Lanka as meet officials conducting these races do not follow the safety rules set by governing bodies in Sri Lanka and the world.
Another driver Ajith Hemachandra, who was also involved in Sunday’s deadly collision, is hospitalized in Colombo after receiving serious injuries.
The Nuwara Eliya race was organised by the Sri Lanka Motorcycle Club (SLMC) which is not permitted to run four-wheel meets except when special permission is granted.
Besides this the SLMC is currently conducting their affairs with an acting president after two elected presidents resigned within six months due to alleged malpractices and irregularities by certain officials in the committee who took up a dictatorial stand in conducting the club’s affairs.
One former president of the club who requested anonymity for obvious reasons said that the road track at Nuwara Eliya was too narrow which made it a high risk for cars to overtake during races and that it was completely illegal for the SLMC to conduct races without a president.
He said another factor that could have led to the tragedy was that drivers had been constantly competing over the past three days thereby making it too tiring to race after competing at the Foxhill meet.
“These drivers need at least two days of rest after two days of driving,” he said.
