Round 3 of the highly-contested 2014 National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) Southern Series was held last April 5 at the Batangas Racing Circuit Drag Strip. While the JCT-Blanche Nissan GT-R may not have beaten the 8-second mark, a best time of 9.391 seconds was enough for Jonathan Tiu to win the Pro Class yet again.
The JCT-Blanche team had more reason to celebrate after Sheldon Chua in his orange Honda CRX and Jayson Ong in his yellow Honda Integra managed to secure 1st and 2nd runner-up positions in the Pro Class, respectively.
Such was the team’s dominance that Tiu again bested the Quick 8 division with a quarter-mile time of 9.520 seconds. Allan Ararao in the Vannitec Mitsubishi Evolution, on the other hand, gave the JCT-Blanche boys a good fight to snatch 1st runner-up, leaving Jayson Ong to settle for the last spot on the podium.
In the Expert Class, it was a close fight between Sorren Emprese’s Honda and Teddy Manguiat’s TMC Motors Daihatsu Charade. So close that Emprese’s 13.111 second winning run was only a tenth of a second quicker. That means Manguiat finished in 1st runner-up, while Jeff Cruz’s 13.626 second run earned him 2nd runner-up.
Meanwhile, a jumpstart from Anson Huang handed the win to Paolo Lim in the Sportsman Class. Ron Amiel Villorente’s 18.177 second run then rounded up the top 3 spot.
There was a bit of drama in the Hotstreet Class after the top 3 drivers all broke out of their brackets. The race stewards had to base the final results on their reaction time and awarded the victory to Phoebo Ansel Perez, followed by Jeremie Cabreros in 2nd and Mikolai Arolfo in 3rd.
The 2014 NDRC will move to the Clark International Speedway on May 3 for Round 3 of the Northern Series.
The 2014 National Drag Racing Championship is comprised of a four-round Northern and four-round Southern Series that is hosted at the Clark International Speedway (CIS) and Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC), respectively. It is sanctioned by the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP), presented by Petronas and sponsored by M&H Tires with media partner Racing Beat @ Wave 89.1.
For more details and inquiries, please contact Batangas Racing Circuit, Inc. at (02) 729-5365, (02) 889-3389, or 0922-885-8410 (look for Nelson Gayola or Rodini Rivera), or Racewell Marketing at 0917 856-8493. Like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BatangasRacingCircuit or log on to www.batangasracingcircuit.org.