Kings of the Road

In its campaign to promote road safety, driving courtesy and traffic laws and regulations awareness, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation held the National Jeepney King and Tricycle King Challenge Championship at the Rizal Park (Luneta) Parade Grounds in front of the Quirino Grandstand last December 14.

Organized by Race Motorsports Club in cooperation with Silver Star Cycle Wheels and Fuji Films, the event dubbed as "Hamon ng mga Kampeon," featured a driving competition among 31 jeepney drivers and 36 tricycle drivers, representing various parts of the country. These competitors, who came from as far north as Isabela and as far south as General Santos City, were champions in their own rights after besting other drivers in their respective provincial contests.

The driving competition was held on an obstacle course that the participants drove through and were timed from start to finish. The course featured simulated traffic conditions where participants were given demerits or penalties for failure to follow the traffic signs.

The course started with a pedestrian crossings where the drivers had to stop for a full second; a "fuel stop" at a Shell service station; slalom cones that simulated traffic obstacles; a loading zone stop; a quick "check-up" stop at the Shell service garage; a rotunda; another slalom course bordered by a pedestrian crossing stop; a detour to a Shell recycling center, where they had to shoot a discarded plastic bottle through a hoop; a back-up garage, where their reverse driving skills were tested; a one-way exit road; a one-lane wooden bridge; a loading zone/water station, where they were to get a quick drink of water, more pedestrian crossings; a Juego de Anillo, where they got a keychain off a rack; and ended with a parallel-parking test at a designated box. The official timer clocked the driver’s finish when they sounded a buzzer on a stage near the parking box after shouting "Panalo tayo sa Shell!" The lowest score that was computed by adding the demerits or penalties and the total time to finish the course in seconds determined the winners.

The crowd was further entertained by a motocross exhibition provided by the Shell-Yamaha riders led by Ernie Leongson, and a slalom exhibition from the champions of the Race Motorsports slalom competition. Movie and TV personality Aubrey Miles graced the affair and gamely mingled with the drivers during her song numbers.

After the dust of competition cleared, the kings of the road were announced. Rodolfo Ting of Abra, Ilocos Norte garnered 202.42 points to claim the title "Tricycle King 2002" while Ray Pepito of Cebu scratched up 205.99 points and was proclaimed "Jeepney King 2002." There was no love lost among the participants as they vowed to return and compete in next year’s contest. But their attention centered on that night’s victory celebration.