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THE
existing record was not broken but nevertheless all
participating cars managed to finish the Petron Xtra
Miles Challenge Media Edition that ended on Sunday.
All the
10 cars that started from Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte
reached Matnog in Sorsogon using one full tank of Petron
Xtra Unleaded. They all were able to beat the former
record of 1,114 km recorded by racing legend Pocholo
Ramirez, who first did the trick two years ago.
But the
existing record of 1,400 km set by the Zayco Hermanos
last year remained untouched as no team was able to
break or even tie it during the weeklong econo-run
sponsored by Petron, Honda, Motolite, PLDT MyDSL, PLDT
WeRoam, and Neo.
A total
of 20 journalists divided into teams of two persons per
car participated in the event that saw seven Honda Jazz
and three Honda City cars take to the road.
The team
of Busy Bodies composed of Roman Floresca and Delfin
Perez, was declared the winner after they ran out of gas
in Barangay Patacon in Polangui, Albay. They traveled
the longest distance of 1,343.70 kilometers. In second
were Jeff Reyes and Lester Dizon of Team Philippine
Star, who traveled a total of 1,336 km, while Team
DZRH-DZRB of Jess Garcia and Joseph Javier was third
with 1,326 km.
The
other competing teams included Team Top Gear of Vernon
Sarne and Jaykee Evangelista, Team DZMM of Angelo
Almonte and Ricky Velasco, Team Auto Review of Ronald de
los Reyes and Raymund Sanchez, Team Autoindustriya of
Raymund Young and Brent Co, Team Stoplight TV of Eggay
Quesada and Giosi Mendoza, Team Cyberpress of Jing
Garcia and Melvin Calimag, and Team Isport Laang of Ira
Panganiban and Andy Sevilla.
The
official run began in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, which was
preceded by two transport stages that saw the 10 cars
along with their support cars and crews leaving Manila
on January 8. The convoy reached the beautiful and
scenic Pagudpud the next day.
All
participating cars were given a full tank of Petron Xtra
Unleaded at the Bangui Petron station on the early
morning of January 10. All the tanks were then sealed in
the presence of representatives from Petron, Automotive
Association of the
Philippines,
and the Car Awards Group Inc. before they were flagged
off at around five in the morning. After a breakfast in
Vigan and lunch at
San Fernando,
La Union, all the 10 cars reached Tarlac late in the
afternoon.
The
second stage saw the whole caravan leaving Tarlac at
around three in the morning and crossed Edsa in the wee
hours of the morning in order to avoid the heavy
traffic. After two stops for breakfast at the South
Luzon Expressway and in Lucena, the caravan snaked
through eight more provinces of Quezon before stopping
for lunch at the Maikainan Restawran in Del Gallego.
Then they sped through four more treacherous roads in
the provinces of Sipocot, San Fernando, Pamplona, and
Milaor before calling it a day in Petron Naga.
January
12, the final day of competition, saw all the cars
precariously holding on to whatever fuel was left in
their tanks as they prepared for the final runout.
Matnog was more than 400 km ahead and everybody wondered
whether they could still survive the ordeal as warning
lights on their fuel gauges had already been flashing.
The
caravan slowly inched its way through the uphill and
downhill climbs of eight towns in Naga in the early
hours before hitting Legaspi. Another five towns in
Legaspi such as Castila, Casiguran, Irosin, Sorsogon
City, and Juban passed by before the entourage hit
Matnog, the final destination and the last town in the
southernmost part of
Luzon.
After
barely entering the first barangay of Matnog, Sorsogon,
the car of Team Isport Laang suddenly went dead after
logging an official traveled distance of 1,158.5 km,
enough to beat the record of 1,111 km of racing legend
Pocholo Ramirez. The nine other cars were able to go
around Matnog and trek back on the same route that took
them there.
Team
Cyberpress stopped at Barangay Boton in Casiguran,
Sorsogon, while Team Stoplight TV went dead at Barangay
Panlayan in Sorsogon City. Team Autoindustriya, Team
Auto Review and Team DZMM ran out of gas almost near the
same place in Castilla, Sorsogon while Team Top Gear
went pffft at barangay Penafrancia in Daraga, Albay.
The third placer Team DZRH-DZRB ran out of gas some 31
km later in Barangay Tuburan in Ligao, Albay which left
only two cars running. It took some 9 km before Team
Philippine Star conked out in Polangui, Albay. The
eventual champion of Team Busy Bodies was able to run
another 7 km more before it stopped in Barangay Patacon
in Polangui, Albay.
Final
regroup
Teams prepare for the last runout in Bicol. IRA
PANGANIBAN COLLECTION
All the
participants expressed satisfaction and enjoyment after
the seven full days of competition as they have
developed camaraderie and fun among themselves. Although
the existing record of 1,400 km recorded by the Team
Zayco Hermanos last year kept standing, they all agreed
that given another chance they would surely crack it the
next time around. |
