Drag race at Batangas

Veteran speed demon Vannie Garcia used a borrowed car to post a new track record, upend the heavily favored Jonathan Tiu in the final duel, and seize the Quick 8 third-leg title in the 2019 National Drag Racing Championships Series at the Batangas Racing Circuit recently.

A race car builder by profession, Garcia squeezed every ounce of power from the 800 wheel horses of the Mitsubishi Evo 3 lent to him by his good friend and teammate Allan Ararao to shatter the latter’s own 1/8-mile record of 6.5 seconds at BRC. He clocked 6.31 secs in eliminating Erbil John Janolino right on his first spin on the track.

Although that made for Garcia’s mouthwatering Quick 8 final faceoff with the multititled Tiu, the duel died on the start as Tiu’s brute 1,318-whp 4-liter Nissan GT-R red-lighted. Garcia took the win in 7.039 seconds despite Tiu flashing home with a quicker 6.393 clip.

Alvin Abrigo, in a Honda Civic, timed 7.308 secs and bested Melvin Pamplona (7.737) for third place. But he more than made up for his semifinal loss to Tiu in the elite class with his victory in the Super Pro races over Pamplona and third-placer Tiu.

Mark de Jesus timed 8.04 seconds and ruled the Pro class after Ryan Quimpo broke out with a dialed-in (predicted) time of 7.9 but turned in 7.836. Pamplona clinched third over Arvin Millet in a double break-out.

In other classes, EJ Villapando (13.797) beat five entries on the way to the Expert title over Che Reyes and Roniel Pasahol; Bodz Garcia (14.210) pipped Romeo Dimapilis and Thomas Roland Bautista for the Sportsman plum; Mark Martin Pitua (15.94) ruled the Hotstreet races over Kent Laroza and Ywell Manio; and Manio (16.02) topped the Diesel division.