Qualifying was as usual with the 2 turbo cars of
Joey Pery and John Camus lined up 1 and 2 respectively. A surprise 3rd was Juny
Binamira. 4th Lito Ignacio. 5th Joselu Romero Salas. 6th Jenny. 7th Romy
Mercado. 8th Jerry Jiao. 9th Rene Mapua. 10. Jojo Ozaeta.
The first heat pretty much finished in that order
except that Romy Mercado had brake problems and only did 4 laps. I managed to
pass Jerry during the start and stayed ahead of him.
But the 2nd heat! Every one was pretty charged.
During the warm up lap Romy's brakes were locking up his front right tire and
since I was behind him I decided to give him some space...just in case. Lights
off and we all head for turn 1 and I'm cautiously waiting for Romy to lock up
again and Jerry dives me on the inside. And Romy's brakes didn't lock! I give
chase and pass Jerry before the two right handers before the chicane. Jenny's
header develops a crack and she's down on power and she is falling into the
clutches of Romy who decides that woman or not, he's not going to let this
opportunity slip by and really presses Jenny hard. I am about 5 cars behind
this and I swear I was gaining and told myself in 5 laps I should be up there
making it a trio. Then on lap 4 my charger belt decides to pop loose and I have
no boost and watch Romy and Jenny disappear. I go into the pit and decide to let
the engine cool before making repairs for the ride home. I get into the pit and
park and as a spectator I realize that Lito and Juny have been nose to tail for
about 5 laps. As I watch I see Juny dive Lito into Brians and the terrain
obscures further observation except for a cloud of dust whipped up by
someone...apparently Lito who may have gotten spooked by Juny's dive as Juny is
now about 5 cars ahead when they return into view. Lito, not to be out done
gives a pretty good chase and 3 laps later takes Juny in the last corner when
Juny makes an error. through the hairpin nose to tail then into Brians again
Juny dives Lito and they disappear from eyesight...no dust this time and Juny is
in front. When they emerge out of the last corner...Lito leads Juny. while this
was going on. Jenny and Romy were still going hard at it with Romy making
attempts to dive Jenny into turn 1 but in the end Romy has to back off due to
heating problems and Jenny has her position safe till the end. But the battle
for 3rd between Lito and Juny is relentless. they must have passed each other 2
or 3 times each lap until...Lito's engine surrenders in a cloud of smoke and
Juny has 3rd safely in the bag. Excellent driving from those 2. Jerry Jiao's
engine decides to eat his air cleaner and strangled his engine. Which goes to
prove that Jojo being nice and safe and consistent picks up 2 places just by
finishing. Juny and Lito shook hands after and both had smiling faces. The
kanchawan afterwards between Jenny and Romy had me in stitches.
Order of finish:
1. Joey Pery
2. John Camus
3. Juny Binamira
4. Joselu Romero Salas
5. Jenny Tan
6. Lito Ignacio
7. Romy Mercado
8. Jojo Ozaeta
9. Jerry Jiao
10. Rene Mapua
Rene Mapua
8
August 2006
