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Tuesday, 5 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Black and Red Team who recently launched the ER88, their international racing car that depicts the corporate colours of their newly formed principal partner the Interactive Group, Dubai, had a perfect start to their weekend when their ace driver line-up that was competing in three race categories ended up occupying the front grid in all three categories when both Zuhair as well as Seneviratne pulled off some stunning laps on an overcast Saturday to provide the iconic team and all front row starting position for the second consecutive race after having successfully done so on the streets of Kandy.
Zuhair, who is currently experiencing a purple patch in his motor racing career, has never been beaten to pole position in 2014 in the five previous races the team has competed in, and continued his dominance when he secured pole position yet again in the SLH 1600 and SLS 1500 events stamping his mark at the Minneriya Track.
Seneviratne, who represents the premier motor racing team in the SLGT 3500 cc category, has shown tremendous form since of late and continued his efforts by putting in some stunning qualifying laps to occupy 2nd on the grid.
EZY Racing were given their usual winning start by Zuhair who went on to lead from start to finish before taking the chequered flag uncontested from Dimithri Weerasinghe and Janaka Dias, in the first race of SLH 1600 event. Later on Zuhair repeated his efforts and won by a bigger margin this time around as he took the chequered flag once again followed by the same driver duo.
Seneviratne on the other hand had an action-packed race where in the first race of SLGT 3500cc he managed to get a great start and beat pole sitter Damith Weerasinghe to the first corner where he was pushed wide by Weerasinghe coming out of the first corner. Veteran Driver Aravinda Premadasa who was 3rd at this point, had the perfect opening and crept through to take the lead from Seneviratne. The race finished in the same order where Seneviratne finished 2nd. In the next event Seneviratne who was starting to close in on the gap on Premadasa, unfortunately spun out and conceded his 2nd place by falling down to 4th place while trying to recover from the spin. Seneviratne managed to recover and finish 3rd.
EZY Racing’s perfect weekend was spoiled when Zuhair who was well on his way to his 3rd win of the weekend in the SLS 1500 category, experienced a sudden engine cut-off while coming out of the last corner in the final lap to be robbed of yet another comfortable victory. Zuhair who has been able to win every race since entering this category in September 2013, was unfortunate to be relegated to 4th place as he helplessly watched the other cars pass him.
“It was really unfortunate and I felt gutted when I saw the cars overtaking me with about 200 meters left to finish. There was nothing I could do as the engine would simply not start so I used the momentum of the car to crawl to the chequered flag. We have been having some great victories in this class and I guess an occasional reliability issue like this has to be accepted. This will only motivate us to be impeccable and not to be complacent. I am indeed glad that I was able to bring home victories on two SLH races which gave the team some great moments,” Zuhair said after the race.
Commenting on his team’s performance, Team Principal and CEO of EZY Racing stated that his drivers provided yet another successful weekend for his team.
“The commitment, preparation and motivation that Sajaad and Dilan display are commendable. It is their efforts that we see translated into success on the race track that enable us to continue our 100% winning ratio, an achievement I believe is simply phenomenal.”
The Black and Red teams’ success was apparent when their Facebook fan page www.fb.com/ezyracing crossed the 60,000 fan mark a few minutes after the race.
