Jazz VTEC Media Challenge Round 2

Once again the four Jazz VTEC cars, powered by Petron Xtra Unleaded gasoline, and running on OEM Goodyear tires, were subjected to grueling treatment in tire-squealing take-offs and hard braking turns for the second round of the Jazz VTEC Media Challenge. What started as a gloomy morning turned out to be a great day for racing participants at the Carmona Racing Circuit last Saturday, October 29.

Junichi Sato, HCPI's AVP for Purchasing, churned out the fastest lap time (1m1.06s) for this year's series so far, beating the best times of the racing media veterans and rookies by more than 2 seconds.

Aris Ilagan of Manila Bulletin bested his colleagues with his time of 1:03.09, adding 30 championship points to the 27 points he earned in the opening leg - making him the leader in the individual standings. Action and Fitness Magazine editor-in-chief Andy Leuterio, and Media Challenge rookie Inigo Roces from C! Magazine clocked times of 1:03.46 earning both of them 27 championship points in 2nd place. Completing the round's top 5 finishers were Business Mirror's motoring editor Popong Andolong and Philippine Star's Jeff Reyes in 4th and 5th place, respectively.

After a few pointers from racing legend and Media Challenge Race Director Pocholo Ramirez, the media speedsters traversed the course like pros, with only milliseconds separating the podium finishers. Manila Bulletin's triumvirate of Anjo Perez, Aris Ilagan and Popong Andolong once again took the top spot with a team time of 3 minutes 11.24 seconds. Philippine Star's Jeff Reyes, Lester Dizon, Manny de los Reyes and Andy Leuterio placed second with a time of 3:12.17. Placing 3rd was the team from C! Magazine composed of managing director James Deakin, Angelo Puyat, Chris Van Hoven and Iñigo Roces with a time of 3:12.36.

As of the second round, Manila Bulletin is on top of the overall team standing with 60 championship points. The team from Philippine Star is tied in 2nd place with the boys from C! Magazine with 51 points. Placing fourth is the team from Top Gear Magazine (42 pts) and in 5th is team Manila Times /DZRH with 33 points. Sixth place is occupied by the men from Auto Review / Autoindustriya with a total of 27 points. The joint team of PDI / Daily Tribune /DZEC / Daily Mirror is tied in 7th place with the team from Manila Standard Today / DZMM with 15 points. The teams from BusinessWorld / Auto Extreme and ABS-CBN round up this year's participants, with 12 and 6 championship points, respectively.

The Jazz VTEC Media Challenge is presented by Honda Cars Philippines in cooperation with the following sponsors: Petron Xtra Unleaded, Goodyear tires, Iger Tech, Nodalo's Trading and Aitech. This is a club event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and is organized by ADBM Resources.

The penultimate round of the Jazz VTEC Media Challenge is slated for November 19 at the Carmona Racing Circuit. For more information about the event, please call 920-6921.