2002 Tough Truck Challenge

After a successful 2001 event, the Manila Off-Roaders Inc. (MORI) in cooperation with the National Association of Filipino Off-Roaders (NasFOR) once again brought serious off-roading to Manila as they presented the 2002 Caltex DELO Tough Truck Challenge at the Fort Bonifacio Global City on November 22 to 24.

In a sport where its events are usually held in the provinces such as Bicol, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, Ormoc, and other places, it is surely exciting to see towering trucks with countless modifications and add-ons take on a track where both the toughest man and machine can only survive in. Thus the saying "Are you tough enough?"

Competitors ran their lifted trucks with chains, shackles, and winches through a man-made technical closed-circuit course in a quest to achieve the best 'ideal' time. The race against time is not all brawn, but also of skillful calculation to run within the time knowing that going faster carried penalties.

The toughest competitor of all was Noel Bartolome of the Land Cruiser Club of the Philippines with his Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 truck proving perfect sync of brain and brawn and harmony of man and machine. Dante Dunca of the Angeles City 4 Wheelers came in second overall while Agustin Macmang of the CDO Off-Road Club took the bronze.

The event was well attended with 73 participants from all over the country and more than 3000 spectators in the weekend of non-stop off-road action. Featuring various off-road clubs from virtually everywhere in the Philippines, each off-roader competed in two specially design tracks for the eliminations and traversed both tracks for the final rounds.

The 2002 Tough Truck Challenge was presented by Caltex DELO, and sponsored by Tide, Goodyear, Motolite, Denso Diesel Services, Bilstein, Mother's, Campershells, Ride, 199 Off-Road House, Fort Bonifacio Development Corporation, 4x4 Magazine, and AutoIndustriya.com

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