Monday 12th March, 2012 13 EZY’s Sajaad wins at Sigiriya Djokovic earns victory EZY Racer Sajaad Zuhair enter- over qualifier tained over 20,000 fans when he drove EZY Racing to their third victory in as INDIAN WELLS, California (AP) lenged. And he took control of the third many races in the 2012 season, by driv- — Novak Djokovic opened his bid for a set after Kubot needed a visit from an ing the wheels off his EZY Honda ER6 third BNP Paribas Open championship ATP Tour trainer for a back problem at the Sigiriya Supercross, conducted by beating qualifier Andrey Golubev of after holding serve for a 3-2 lead. by SLARDAR. Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday. Berdych got by Sergly Stakhovsky of EZY participated for the first time The top-ranked Djokovic, who beat the Ukraine 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4. in Sigiriya, with their star studded Rafael Nadal in last year’s final at the line-up of drivers led by Sajaad Zuhair Indian Wells Tennis Garden and also and Pasindu Pieris. won in 2008, is 23-4 on the slow PlexiPave The black and red team, which has courts that he said favor his game and become an iconic team in the paddocks will face No. 29 seed Kevin Anderson of and on the track had a great Saturday South Africa in the third round. It is the second year in a row that when ‘Gravel King’ Pasindu Pieris took Djokovic has beaten Golubev in the sec- pole position in the SLGT up to 3500cc ond round of this $11 million event. and SLH 1600cc categories in his EZY Djokovic used a serve and high fore- Mitsubishi ER9 and EZY Honda ER4. hand volley to set up match point and a Team-mates Rizvi Farouk, in his EZY service winner to bring the 80-minute Mitsubishi ER8 and Sajaad Zuhair in match to a conclusion. his EZY Honda ER6 qualified fourth Andy Murray, the No. 4 seed and a and third on the grid to give the EZY possible semifinal opponent for Djokovic, Racing team a very strong position on EZY Racer Sajaad Zuhair in his EZY Honda ER6 battling it out with Ashan Silva, was scheduled to play the final match of Saturday. who is closely followed by EZY Racer Pasindu Peiris, in his EZY Honda ER4. the day against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez With Pasindu Pieris experiencing a of Spain. mixture of misfortunes which deprived Sajaad, who held the inner line, man- aware that Sajaad’s strengths primarily Isner, the No. 11 seed, earned a 7-5, 6-3 him of transforming his pole positions aged to outbreak Silva when he braked lay on harder surfaces. That’s why he is victory over Frederico Gil of Portugal, into victories, team-mate Sajaad very late, to take the corner ahead of our best 1600c driver on the tarmac. while fellow-American Roddick, who is at Zuhair who has been the ace performer Silva. There onwards it was a race to When it comes to loose gravel, a driver his lowest ranking (31) since August 2001, in tarmac events, was forced to put his victory for Sajaad, who won his first needs to make many adjustments to his needed three sets to top Poland’s Lukasz very best efforts forward to compete ever race in Sigiriya. driving style as gravel racing is all Kubot 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. very strongly on gravel, a terrain that “It is a great feeling to have won about momentum. Sajaad proved that It was a badly needed win for has been an unfamiliar and uncomfort- our very first race in Sigiriya. I have he has worked hard and adapted to this. Roddick, who has struggled with injuries able one for him. always preferred driving on tarmac as These are very encouraging signs for this season, and it came after what he Sajaad, who started third on the opposed to gravel. However, the team the team,” said Hamzadeen. called an hour and a half of playing so grid, managed to get off to a decent decided that in 2012, we will partici- Hamzadeen added that his team poorly “I couldn’t have hit a return into start. pate in every gravel race. This gave me was quite unfortunate in not being able the ocean from the beach.” Once Sajaad had a clear vision of the opportunity to further my skills to bag a few more victories in Sigiriya. “I don’t feel like I’d stolen a match in race leader Silva, he drove a few stun- and today’s race was the outcome of it. “We were very strongly positioned on a while and I did today. I got a (good ning laps to close the gap and put pres- The fact that I was able to overtake on Saturday and we felt we could have bounce on a) let cord to break (for a 4-3 sure on Silva, who slightly erred while gravel, demonstrates how competitive won in both the SLGT and SLH. lead in the third set) and it felt fantastic. coming out of the last corner on to the we were this weekend,” said an elated However, we do understand that when I wasn’t sorry at all, even though I said I main straight. This provided racing Sajaad. competing at this level, it’s the little was.” fans with the most exciting moment of EZY Racing’s CEO and team princi- things that can snatch fortune away The 29-year-old Roddick, who will the race when Sajaad and Silva raced pal Shafraz Hamzadeen said that from you. We understand the ups and meet No. 8 seed Tomas Berdych of the down the straight, side by side, with Sajaad’s achievements were phenome- down of the sport and hope to manage Czech Republic in the third round, won Silva slightly ahead of Sajaad. nal due to a lot of hard work put in by those situations much better in the the second-set tiebreaker with a forehand However, going into corner one, the driver and the team. “We were all future.” that appeared long, but went unchal- Wales wins to set up Grand Slam match with France turned over possession. Such indiscipline could cost Wales The breakthrough eventually came dearly against a France team that from a turnover deep in Welsh territo- came close to frustrating heavily ry. favored New Zealand in last year’s The ball came to Rhys Priestland World Cup final. from a turnover and the flyhalf Ireland at least maintained its posi- straightened up and slipped a pass to tion as leading try scorer in the Six Roberts, who cut inside to exploit a Nations, touching down four times to gap between hooker Leonardo beat Scotland in Dublin. Ghiraldini and winger Mirco Scotland dominated the opening Bergamasco. The center sprinted away exchanges and led 6-0 through a pair and touched down under the posts. of penalties by Greig Laidlaw, but Halfpenny added the extras and Rory Best, Eoin Reddan and Andrew Priestland’s kick seemed to have com- Trimble crossed to give Ireland a 22-14 pleted the scoring until Cuthbert, who halftime lead. Wales’ George North makes an early tackle and concedes a penalty against Italy’s had enjoyed little positive ball to work Replacement Fergus McFadden Kristopher Burton during their Six Nations rugby union match at the Millennium with, darted out right, pushed away reached out to score Ireland’s 13th try stadium in Cardiff, Wales, Saturday, March 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant) from prop Fabio Staibano and went of the tournament, while Scotland was over in the corner despite the efforts unable to add to Richie Gray’s first- of Giulio Toniolatti and Luke McLean. half solo try. BY STUART CONDIE our preparation right,” Wales assis- Halfpenny was yellow-carded mid- Jonathan Sexton kicked three con- tant coach Rob Howley said. “We have way through the second-half for tak- versions and two penalties for LONDON (AP) — Wales will go for trained particularly well over the last ing out Parisse in the air, the fifth Ireland’s other points, leaving a third Six Nations Grand Slam in three or four weeks and the word straight match that Wales has been Scotland with four defeats from four eight seasons against France next Grand Slam hasn’t been mentioned up reduced to 14 men, but his teammates matches and facing what is effectively weekend after beating Italy 24-3 in until this point.” held out untroubled during his a playoff for the wooden spoon against Cardiff on Saturday. After wins over Ireland, Scotland absence. Italy next weekend. Wales didn’t look like a side on the and England, cusp of such an achievement as Italy’s Welsh fans gath- stubborn defense kept the visitors ered in Cardiff within six points until 10 minutes into anticipating an the second half. But the home side’s exhibition per- class showed as Jamie Roberts scored formance against a smart solo try from a turnover and the tournament’s Alex Cuthbert made the score one- last-place side. sided with a touchdown in the corner But despite out- late on. passing Italy 104-17 Wales’ fifth straight win over Italy in the opening 40 narrowed the title to a three-horse minutes and forc- race between the Welsh, France and ing the visitors England — knocking Ireland out of into 86 first-half contention despite a 32-14 win over tackles, Wales only Scotland. led 9-3 at the break “It won’t be difficult for us to get through three through this week at all,” Wales coach penalties by Leigh Warren Gatland said.