Story & photos by Patrick P. Tulfo
THE rain soaked morning of the fourth and final leg of this year’s Vios Cup held recently at the Clark Speedway in Pampanga gave fans and racing enthusiasts a wild and wooly affair from start to finish.
The audience who brave the inclement weather were treated to a spectacular show of driving skills, characterized by a lot of contacts that resulted into a lot of flaying bumpers, and one overturned car driven by Miko Maristela toward the end of the race.
The race, which was divided into four categories, Rota Promotional Class and Celebrity Class, Bridgestone Sporting Class and the thrilling Total Excellium Super Sporting Class produced unexpected results.
Gel Napat of Team Biskeg dominated the opener for the Rota Promotional Class. He was followed closely by crowd favorite Marc Soong of Team Obengers and Don Vic Portugal of Toyota San Pablo finishing third.
Meanwhile, at the Celebrity Class, Brazilian model/actor Fabio Ide finished first, followed by young actor Dominic Roque and hot mom Aubrey Miles for the third spot.
At the Bridgestone Sporting Class, comebacking radio jock Sam YG (Toyota Quezon Avenue), who missed the previous races, stamped his class in the 12-lap race. It was an exciting race as Sam YG, who started from the 17th position, slowly clawed his way to the top spot. He was followed by Sean Velasco of Toyota Cebu and Tonton Ramos of Toyota San Fernando.
The Total Excellium Super Sporting Class saw Allan Uy, of Allan Uy Racing, establishing a comfortable lead early into the race, leaving Daniel Miranda (Obengers), Miko Maristela (Toyota Quezon Avenue) and Gerald Loy (Biskeg) battling for the second, third and fourth, respectively. The young Daniel Miranda eventually eked out his rivals to get the No.2 spot, with Maristela getting third spot and Loy settling for fourth.
The weather had somewhat improved in the afternoon for the exciting finale. The race two for Rota Promotional class saw Red Diwa of Toyota Isabela claiming the pole position. He was followed by Gel Napat of Team Biskeg and completing the top 3 is Vincent Courcol of AP Corse/Toyota Makati.
The much-anticipated Celebrity Class remained unchanged, as Fabio Ide held on the first place, he was followed by Dominique Roque and surprisingly, it was the better half of Aubrey Miles, Troy Montero who was able to finish third.
Mark Sy of Toyota San Pablo took home the bacon for the Bridgestone Sporting Class. He was followed by Tonton Ramos of Toyota San Fernando and completing the cast for the top 3 spots was teammate Rhaffy Latorre.
The highly competitive Total Excellium Super Sporting Class had the crowd on their feet for most of the time as they watch Daniel Miranda, Ramon Tanjuatco and other racers battled it out.
The highlight of the race was when the car driven by Miko Maristela, who was at the thick of the fight, careened out of control in Lap seven and flipped when it hit the gutter and landed on its roof, after he was accidentally bumped by the car driven by Allan Uy. Thankfully, Maristela got out his car unhurt.
Daniel Miranda was able to establish a sizable lead toward the end of the lap 10 to claim the checkered flag. He was followed by Ramon Tanjuatco of AP Corse/Toyota Makati and actor/racer Dominic Ochoa of Toyota Quezon Avenue who came in third.
Toyota President Satoru Suzuki thanked the crowd who continuedly support the annual race at the awarding ceremony and said, “See you all next year,” which was met with a boisterous applause from all the participants.
Image credits: Patrick P. Tulfo