Ramirez brods eye big finish

After a fruitful stint in the kickoff leg last month, Ramirez brothers Kookie and Louis of Petron-SRA gun for a repeat of their victories in the 2008 Philippine Touring Car Championship which resumes with its second leg tomorrow at Subic International Raceway.

The Ramirezes share the lead in Group 1 of the event organized by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP).

They will be up against defending champion Jody Coseteng of San Miguel-Magnolia whose bid in the first leg was ended by a busted engine and a detached rear fender following heavy contact with Enzo Pastor.

The other contenders are Gaby dela Merced, Jonathan Buxton and Dennis Uy. Philippine Daily Inquirer

Touring Car Championship at Subic

Ramirezes take command in wild, wooly race in PNTCC

SUBIC BAY – Petron-SRA drivers Louie and Kookie Ramirez carved out big wins in a wacky kickoff of the 2008 Philippine Touring Car Championship recently at the Subic International Raceway.

No one could have predicted the outcome of the first two races of the year as a series of unfortunate events brought about an unexpected climax of the event organized by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) in cooperation with marketing and media partner Race Fans Inc. and sponsored by of SEAOIL, Federal Tires, Star Cruises and Motolite.

Defending champion Jody Coseteng of San Mig Coffee and Enzo Pastor, back here from the US for a vacation, were tagged as favorites as they tightly battled the lead during the early laps of the race.

But the two bumped each other on the eighth lap, paving the way for Kookie Ramirez to wrest the lead on the ninth lap. The contact left Pastor with a heavily-damaged front as he took the pit on the 11th lap while Coseteng called it quits on the next lap after ending with a busted engine and a detached rear fender.

Ramirez appeared headed for the win when suddenly his fuel hose ruptured just 100 meters away from the finish line. Louis Ramirez then easily breezed by to claim the checkered flag in Round 1, while local celebrity driver Gaby de la Merced grabbed the runner-up honors.

Fortunately, there was enough gas for Kookie Ramirez to coax his sputtering car to the finish line to take third place.

Round 2 was as equally unpredictably exciting. Coseteng could not run with his busted car, so Pastor set the pace during the first six laps with SEAOIL-Velocity Motors bet Dennis Uy, on his tail.

But both Pastor and Uy suffered engine problems that forced them out of the race as Kookie Ramirez then grabbed the lead and held on to this post all the way to the finish line.

Jonathan Buxton bagged the runner-up finish while Louis Ramirez and Gaby de la Merced ended third and fourth respectively.

Even the Group 3 race had its fair share of drama. Stuart McDonald of Ford-Tuason Racing grabbed the lead from the start as defending champion Alvin Santos of Kotse Network- Mark Young Racing found himself in a unfamiliar situation coming in second.

But in the fifth lap, Santos figured in a collision with McDonald and spun out hitting the grass on the seventh turn resulting to a damaged rear fender. But he was fortunate still as he ended fourth in the first race.

McDonald, consistently driving throughout, won the race with Doby Atillano of Howroyd & Benjamin Racing and Chris Guevarra checking in second and third respectively.

But the final race ended in disaster for McDonald. He and Santos were lobbying for position at the third turn when the Santos hit McDonald’s driver’s side door and catapulted the car to the tire barrier at the grassy area.

Santos then lost his position after a flat tire and Doby Atillano wrested the lead and won the race. Lory Uy of SEAOIL-Velocity Motors checked in second while PBA Analyst Dominic Uy of Mighty Filter Kings ended third.

The races can be viewed in full only on Slipstream TV - “The Home of Real Racing”,on its new timeslot every Sunday 10-10:30 a.m. on Studio 23. PhilStar

Lim resets own record

While it took Lim three years and six months to erase Ken Kepner’s Fastest Car record of 9.957 seconds record set in Dec. 20, 2003 at the Omni Aviation Raceway in Subic, he erased his own mark in only seven months.

CEBUANO racing ace David G. Lim rewrote the fastest car record he just established last June with another record-breaking run last Sunday during the Castrol Edge-Mayor Tommy Osmeña Cup 6 National Drag Race competition at the South Reclamation Properties.

Lim bested his 9.820-second mark in June 2007 with a 9.817-second run, using the same car, a chopped top Honda Civic EG with the same engine.

And while it took Lim three years and six months to erase Ken Kepner’s Fastest Car record of 9.957 seconds record set in Dec. 20, 2003 at the Omni Aviation Raceway in Subic, he erased his own mark in only seven months.

Aside from this, Lim again took the Quick 8 Open title after beating Ed Pujol of Team Vanitech of Manila.

Aside from the fastest car record, the race last Saturday and Sunday also produced the Fastest All-Motor record set by Jon Jon Sarmiento of Team Blaunch of Manila with a 10.2-second run.

The previous record was set by Pepi Santos of H3 Autoworks at 11.027 seconds, established at the PRA Promenade Strip in Pasay City.

And Ed Pujol of Team Vanitech of Manila also erased his own record for the new Fastest SOHC Honda at 11.3 seconds.

In the Quick 8 All-Motor, Sarmiento of Team Blaunch defeated the car owned by Johnvick Gullas and driven by Ednel Heshan of Team DGL/ERE.

With the previous drag racing records reset, race organizer Neil Labrador of Peak Summit is hopeful of a tougher and more exciting competition which will be held either in June or October this year. (RCM)

Coseteng secures his 11th tiara in Subic

ilSUBIC—Jody Coseteng of San Mig Coffee and Alvin Santos of Kotse Network-Mark Young Racing Team emerged as overall champions in their respective divisions in the championship round of the 2007 Philippine Touring Car Championship held recently at the Subic International Raceway.

Despite losing the final leg, Coseteng still bagged the overall crown in the Group 1 division for his 11th straight touring car diadem—an unprecedented feat in Philippine motorsports history.

Santos, meanwhile, survived the challenge from a Japanese rival to complete a season sweep and clinch the Group 3 title of this event sponsored by Seaoil, Motolite, Alaxan FR, Federal Tyres, TNT, Ray-Ban, Starbright Body Kits, Gerry’s Grill, Bendix, Subic International Raceway and Autoindustriya.com and media partners Studio 23 and NU107.5 FM.

Coseteng may have won the title, but it didn’t go his way the way he wanted it to be.

Due to some minor technical glitch, Coseteng was penalized and lost some points along the way.

Coseteng was about to redeem himself in the afternoon race as he was way ahead of the pack when his engine suddenly blew up with eight laps to go, thus forcing him out of the race.

But the day really belonged to Kookie Ramirez of Petron-SRA, who pulled off a sweep of the final leg to formally bag overall runner-up honors in the Group 1 category.

Louis Ramirez, also of Petron-SRA, grabbed second spot over Nico Montinola of Akula Racing.

In the afternoon, Dennis Uy of Valvoline-Velocity Motors unveiled a more aggressive performance to clinch runner-up honors over Louis Ramirez.

Santos, on the other hand, thought that he had the victory in the bag, but was surprised by the tough challenge coming from Japanese driver Tai Tomoyuki of Vivid Speedwelle.

Tomoyuki had a strong start and assumed control until the seventh lap. Santos rode hard to inch closer after every lap until he came side by side with the Japanese.

But a slight collision had Tomoyuki’s vehicle suffering a damaged back fender that slowed him down and paved the way for Santos’ victory.

Tomoyuki eventually checked in second while Doby Atillano of Howroyd & Benjamin Racing and Angelo Tambo of Bosch Racing wound up third and fourth in the morning encounter.

In the afternoon, the Japanese was back to pose another challenge to Santos.

But Tomoyuki again got entangled in another mess and ended fifth behind runner-up Bingo Valero of Bosch

Racing, third placer Atillano and fourth placer Angelo Tambo.

All these exciting PTCC action can be viewed in full on “Slipstream TV,” which will soon be back for its seventh season. The program will be hosted by Dominic Uy with international racer Gaby de la Merced every Sunday, 12 noon, on Studio 23—the Home of Real Racing.
Manila Standard Today