Indika Sanjaya, Navin Marapana take top spot, lead Land Rover dominance at Commando 4x4 Challenge 20

Wednesday, 13 August 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A unique week long 4x4 Expedition titled ‘Explore Sri Lanka with the Commandos,’ which was organised by the Commando Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army ended on the 9th of August at the Commando Regiment Training Centre at Kuda Oya. The first-ever Commando 4x4 Challenge 2014 was conducted in Grand Style to conclude the expedition.

With Sri Lanka’s top extreme 4x4 teams taking part, the event organisers had laid out five special stages comprising of steep rock climbs, deep lake crossings, high speed jungle tracks, river crossings and technical winching stages for the competitors to overcome. The lake crossing was the deepest special stage in Sri Lankan 4x4 history with the water level rising almost up to the roof of some of the vehicles. Indika Sanjaya (Driver) and Navin Marapana (Co Driver), who are Sri Lanka’s most successful 4x4 Competitors, once again dominated the event from start to finish and wowed the crowd with a stellar display of 4x4 skills. Indika’s precision driving skills, combined with Navin’s vast experience in winching and ground reading helped the duo take a commanding position from the first stage itself. Driving a 2500cc Land Rover they proved that engine power alone cannot win races by beating several high powered competitors with a huge lead. In 2nd place were the experienced Suresh Chathuranga and his Co Driver Ravindra Sanjeewa in their Land Rover 200 Tdi 2500 CC vehicle who also overcame all the obstacles in their path with some style. Driver A.B Damith Nissanka and his Co Driver A.B Charith Madushanker also driving a 200 Tdi Land Rover based vehicle came third, despite rolling over three times during the Special Stage. Major General Prasanna De Silva presented the awards to the winners.