Medrano siblings, two others reap karting honors

MANILA, Philippines - A sea of screaming yellow flooded the racetrack anew as new team PCR-Tough Gear Racing emerged the winningest team with four champion trophies and two runners-up recently in the sixth and penultimate leg of the 2009 Magnolia Pure Water Karting Super Series at the Boomland Track of the CCP Complex in Pasay.

Medrano siblings Aira and Von, Vrei-AR Suba and Estefano Rivera all delivered amazing feats against tough rivals in their respective classes for the big harvest of PCR-Tough Gear Racing powered by FERN-C, Placewell International Inc., CMB Film Services Inc., Getaway Tours Int’l., Golf Sky and PCR-Italy.

Lawrence de Leon also unveiled a strong rally from the tailend to claim the runner-up finish in the MBA division while Carl Pollington made it second in the Baby ROK.

Aira Medrano, 12, proved her potentials when she pulled a 1-2 finish for PCR-Tough Gear Racing in the Baby ROK division. She edged out teammate Carl Pollington in a nerve-wracking down-the-wire finish, winning by only a tenth of a second.

With the win, Medrano, also a multi-awarded swimmer, snatched the overall lead from Pollington with the slimmest of margins.                            

Older brother Von Medrano, an 18-year-old pre-med student of De La Salle University, also won the title in the Formula SL Heavy Division for 381 points that gave him a comfortable overall lead over Archie Rubio and Mike Fox going to the last race.

The Medrano siblings, both racing for their new PCR-Tough Gear racing team, are ably supported by their father-mentor and energy executive Larry Medrano, head coach and trainer Edgen Dy-Liacco, chief mechanic Sonny Suba, Golden Harvest, ITM and M&M.

Suba provided an awesome spectacle in clinching the ROK Novice crown over Matthew Solomon and Jospeh Castelar. He also finished fourth beating the seniors and the veterans in the premier ROK Overall class.

He clocked 14 minutes, 9.488 seconds or six seconds behind ROK overall champ Andres Calma. Though he missed action in two legs, Suba remains in the thick of the title fight, having moved up to close third.

Rivera scored a sweep of all races in the Formula SL Novice class to climb to second overall with 337 points, 30 points behind frontrunning Cebuano ace Tonyo Carcel.