Archers, Lions clash for crown
Grimes all set to join elite in int’l racing Games today 2 p.m. – LPU vs JRU (Battle for third) 4 p.m. – La Salle vs San Beda (Finals)
La Salle and San Beda, two of the country’s top basketball teams, clash today for the Filoil Flying V Premier Cup title and the bragging rights as the best collegiate league in the land at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Archers, the UAAP champions, leaned on a threepoint play by Santi Santillan in the stretch to overcome the Lyceum of the Phl U Pirates, 10099, while the Lions overpowered the Jose Rizal Bombers, 80-64, in Friday’s semifinals to arrange no-tomorrow championship duel at 4 p.m.
LPU and Jose Rizal collide at 2 p.m. in a battle for third place.
La Salle will be gunning for its fifth title and San Beda its second in this annual league serving as pre-season tournament for the collegiate leagues.
San Beda coach Boyet Fernandez, however, said it will all be about pride.
“Of course, we always play for school pride and we always want to make our school proud by winning the championship,” said Fernandez, back after three years coaching NLEX in the PBA.
The last time these two teams met, San Beda edged La Salle, 8280, with Robert Bolick, a former Archer, coming through big with a game-high 27 points including clutch baskets in the stretch.
La Salle, however, is expected to make it more difficult for Bolick and the Lions in their muchawaited re-match.
“I have to watch that game again and see if we will learn from the mistakes we committed there,” said La Salle coach Aldin Ayo.
Ben Mbala is expected to be the focal point of La Salle’s attack anew as the bullstrong 6-8 Cameroonian has averaged 34 points and 16 rebounds in his last three games that kept the Archers in the title hunt.
But Ayo said they would need a total team effort to beat an equally loaded squad like San Beda.
“Ben has been playing really well the past few games but we have to play as a team and not rely on him too much for us to win,” said Ayo.
Ben Grimes hopes to build up on his impressive start in the Asian Formula 3 circuit as he seeks to join the elite ranks of international Filipino racing champions in the near future.
The Fil-Brit racer dished out a remarkable single-seater debut in the third round of the Formula Masters Asian Series in China recently, finishing 10th. He also vied in the first round where he wound up in the top half of the 15-car field in every race, including a Top 5 finish in his first race.
“I’m very committed. I want to get as high up the racing ladder as I can,” said the emerging 18-year-old racing star, the first-ever Filipino driver to compete in the FMAS, considered Asia’s premier Formula Car competition.
He said he’s been training 4-5 times a week to toughen himself up and has been watching F1 and F3 races.
“I’m also in constant communication with my racing coaches,” said Grimes, who dreams of approximating or matching the feats of top local racers such as Marlon Stockinger, Michele Bumgarner and Gaby dela Merced.
Born to a British dad and Filipina mom, Grimes started out as a karter, making his karting debut in the Thailand National Karting Championship in the KF3 class where he posted a couple of podium finishes as a 13-year-old competitor.
He also competed in the Asian Rotax Max Challenge and after topping the Thailand Rotax Junior Championship, he represented the country in the 2013 Rotax Grand Finals, the world’s largest karting event, in New Orleans.
He moved up to the Senior Class in 2014 and turned in a couple of strong finishes in the Asian Max Challenge and Thailand Rotax Senior Championship.
Then he made the transition from karts to saloon carts last year and vied in the Toyota Vios Cup with AUTS Racing and saw action in the other races, bucking the odds while scoring two podium finishes in eight races.
This year, Grimes switched back to the more traditional route for karting graduates, moving into single-seater formula cars and linking it up with Motorsports team.
Meanwhile, Grimes also joined the ALV Talent Circuit, which handles the careers of some of the country’s top singers and sports celebrities, including boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, MMA fighter Mark Striegl, lady pro golfer Jayvie Agojo, swimmer Alfonso Bautista and fencing champion Maxine Esteban.