Anton reasserts hillclimb mastery

MANILA, Philippines - Baguio pride Carlos Anton continued his winning ways when he bested a field of 61 participants to rule the kickoff leg of the Philippine Hillclimb Championship held in La Union.

 The multi-titled champion, aboard his trusty Mark Young-Yokohama prepared CRX, overcame a close call in the first heat to post the day’s best time of 1:36.35 over the 2.1 kilometer twisty course.

“This one is for Tito Poch!” said Anton referring to the late Pocholo Ramirez whom he considers a mentor and a big supporter of his colorful racing career.

“I misjudged a corner and took it way too fast, lost the back end and was headed for the wall. Luckily, I was able to recover and claim the win,” he further related.

Over 40 racers from Baguio joined the event, including Dennis Aoyong and Frankie Domingo of the Yokohama-Total-Hornitex Team, Mario Dipasupil and Mark Quinto who created quite a stir in their respective classes.

Aoyong, the 2008 Group 3 champ, again topped his class while teammate Domingo finished third in the highly competitive Group 1 despite overshooting the penultimate curve and damaging his car.

Dipasupil, a veteran racer, crashed and rolled his Honda Civic in the first heat but ended right side up and continued his run to the finish, while Quinto topped the historic car event in a Volkswagen.

Carlo Garcia, who finished second to Anton last year, blasted his Subaru STI up the mountain to finished third in Group 4.