Ramirez wins 5th, 6th rounds

SUBIC -- Defending champion Miguel Ramirez of Petron-SRA erased any doubt on his title-retention bid, posting back-to-back wins in the fifth and sixth rounds of the Petron XCS championship -- centerpiece event of the "SVI-Subic Grand Prix 2000" at the Subic International Raceway here Sunday.

Eager to recover lost ground following failed campaigns in two of the first four races, Ramirez struck back in his old reliable Honda Civic to rule the event organized by the Sports Values, Inc. and sponsored by Petron Corp.

"This is a good breakthrough win for me. I did not really have a good start this year," said Ramirez, who at 23 became the youngest ever winner of this premier car racing competition last year.

The win pushed Ramirez to third place in the overall standings with 25 points, 14 points behind his ageless father Pocholo Ramirez and three points behind older brother Louie Ramirez.

Trailing the Ramirezes in the overall standings are the equally-talented Nilo Pazcoguin of Redline Racing, who made his presence felt with a couple of runner-up finishes; and Ferdinand Ong of Toms-Ten Years After. Both Pazcoguin and Ong have 20 points.

Ong, who drove one of three Toyota Levins in the field, also extended his winning streak in the super saloon B category over Derrick Yu-Tian of Intense Racing.

Pazcoguin dominated the super saloon C class twice over Mike Aguilar of Speedmore, Dominic Bon and John Chua of Tridon.

The day's only other double winner was Mark Montecillo of Redline Racing, who swept the production class over Vincent Floirendo of Mazdaspeed and Mike Potenciano of Shell-MP Turbo.

Driving the only LXi in the nine-car field, which included five Elantras, Montecillo made a daring run to snatch the victory over his more-experienced rivals.

Clerk of course Rolen Paulino awarded the trophies to the winners of different categories immediately after the races.

The seventh and eighth rounds will be held during the "Asian Festival of Speed" also in Subic on April 22-23.