It’s battle by the bay at the Quartermile

Like the old knights searching for the holy grail, drag racers wanting to break the 10-second barrier failed to do so last Sept. 8 during the third leg of Shell-Prospeed’s Quartermile Championship Drag Racing. But the action, nonetheless, was there.

Leading the series is MSF Motorsports with 290 points in the overall team standings, followed by Bolt-on Performance with 158 points, ATI Racing with 150 points, Redline Racing with 136 points.

The car which drew a lot of attention were the Tommi Makkinnen Edition Lancer Evolution VI of Redline Racing and the red Honda S2000 sports car of veteran actor Ace Vergel.

Almost breaking the sound barrier was the Evolution VI of Redline Racing which rocketed through the quartermile in 11.8 seconds at 140 mph.

In the Quick 8 category, first place went to Dondi Montecillo of Redline Racing. The All Motor Category was a toss between Arnold Perez of ATI Racing, who won the category, and Michael dela Cruz of Bolt-on Performance. The All Honda category was dominated by MSF Motorworks, whose two drivers – John Chua and Ace Vergel – tppk first and second place.

The Pro Class C category saw Eric Asuque of ATI Racing demolishing Madison Chan of MSF Autoworks on board his canary yellow MIVEC-powered Lancer GLXi. Other crowd favorites during the event was the white Toyota Corolla "taxi" which was powered by a two-liter, 20-valve DOHC engine and the Honda hatchback of Bolt-on Performance which left the S2000 of Vergel in the dust.

Antonio "Butch" Anducil, president of Prospeed, revealed that a tour around the country is the pipeline. "We are planning to tour the country to promote legal drag racing. The first stop will probably be in Cebu sometime this year or early next year. Since we started this a year ago, attendance has quadrupled. This is a sign that drag racing as a legal motorsport has matured in our country," he said.

Quartermile is sanctioned by the Automobile Association of the Philippines (formerly Philippine Motor Association) and sponsored by Shell, Shell Velocity, Shell Mastercard, ATI Diesel, Eibach, Karcher, 89.9 TM, 99.5 RT, 103.5 K-Lite and DragRacingPinoy.com. For more information, log on to www.atidiesel.com and www.aerengines.com

The next leg is on Oct. 8.