Gutierrez, Pastor, Mendiola score

SUBIC — Monching Gutierrez, Don Pastor and Patrick Mendiola came away with another decisive victories to pull away in the overall standings in their respective categories in the SVI Challenge Cup, even as John Camus and Pocholo Ramirez split top honors in the Miata Cup at the Subic International Raceway here Sunday.

Gutierrez, a mainstay of the highly-rated Dickies-MP Turbo Racing Team, firmed up his bid for his second straight overall title by sweeping the ninth and 10th rounds over Dominique Bon and Mikko David.

The well-known movie/TV personality, who took up racing seriously upon the proddings of veteran internationalist Mike Potenciano, negotiated the 3.0-kilometer seaside race course with the fastest times in both rounds to complete his third sweep of the season.

"I think my chances (of winning the title) are a lot better now, but there are still four races left so there’s no celebration yet," said Gutierrez, who is also being supported by Gulf Oil, BLTB, CPM Muffler and Rainforest Mineral Water.

Gutierrez clocked 35:15.650 against Bon’s 35:16.432 in the ninth round, and 31:01.756 against David’s 31:02.306 in the 10th round. He also submitted the fastest lap time of 1:39.207 in the second lap of the ninth round.

The victories also enabled Gutierrez to widen his lead in the overall standings with only four rounds remaining in this annual series organized by the Sports Values, Inc. (SVI).

Gutierrez has a 10-round aggregate of 73 points based on the 10-6-4-3-2-1 scoring system used by the SVI.

His closest rivals — Pastor and Oscar Aguilar — are way behind with 46 and 32 points, respectively.

Pastor, however, wrested the upperhand in the Class C category over Aguilar, Tonton Gutierrez of Dickies-MP Turbo and Menchie Francisco of Petron-SRA.

The Team TEC-supported Pastor has 61 points against Aguilar’s 51 points, Gutierrez’s 48 points and Francisco’s 41 points.