MANILA, Philippines - Drag racing action returns to the Batangas Racing Circuit Drag Strip for the second leg of the 2009 San Mig Coffee National Drag Racing Championship-National Trophy Series on March 28.
Motorsports godfather Johnny Tan, who’s also the executive director of the Batangas Racing Circuit Association, expressed deep gratitude to Ramon Ang, president and COO of San Miguel Corporation, a major supporter of motorsports development in the country.
“We’ve gone a long way, and I’m grateful that despite the crisis, Ramon Ang and San Miguel Corporation remained a strong partner for the continuous development of Philippine motorsports,” said Tan.
The past five years saw the evolution of drag racing as a very competitive motorsports sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines.
Just recently, defending champion Jonathan Tiu raised the bar anew to an all-time fastest quarter-mile record of 9.223 seconds in the kickoff leg of this series sponsored by Pagcor Sports, San Miguel Corporation, Pilipinas Shell, San Mig Coffee, Yokohama and Aeromed.
Tiu’s existing record at the Batangas Racing Circuit remains at 9.903 and he will have to make adjustments on his Mitsubishi Evo 5 to suit the ambiance of the BRC Drag Strip and set a new record time.
The American V8 Muscle cars won’t see action this time but Tiu, who’s looking for a four-peat feat, faces equally tough challenge from Vanni Garcia and Why Dagondon of W. Autosport-Vannitec, Ed Christian Go of Blanche Racing, Mato Tan of DGL Motorsports, and JCT-Blanche Racing teammate Jonathan Go in the Quick 8 class.
Aside from the Quick 8 division, participants will battle each other for the titles in the All-Motor Quick 8, Pro, Expert, Sportsman and Hotstreet classes.
The other teams that have confirmed their participation are H3 Motorsports, Team Ready, Just Racing, Good Guys, Team Batangas, Alps Racing, Pit21, Lowtoys, GroupN and Matonetics.
Among the other favorites are Pepi Santos and Edwin Cayco of H3 Motorsports in the Pro division, Jonathan Young of JCT-Blanche Racing and Paul Henderson Perez of Alps Racing in the Expert class, Romeo Manuel and Nikko Allen Mendoza in the Sportsman division, and lady driver Jeannette Go who will be going up against Ronald Viloria and Cholo Dayrit in the Hotstreet class.
Registration is now ongoing. For further details, interested parties may log on at www.batangasracingcircuit.com or contact the Batangas Racing Circuit c/o Nelson Gayola or Rodini Rivera at (632) 817-2241, 729-5365 or fax 815-1241.