The Philippine Star Strikes Back

Finishing up after a nice little sprint tri in Laguna, I open my phone’s Inbox to find a quite cryptic message from teammate and SPEED Magazine editor Manny de los Reyes: "Are you coming over?". No smileys, no how-are-you’s, no preamble like he usually does. This is because approximately 100 kilometers away at the Quirino Grandstand, Round 2 of the Honda Civic Media Challenge was already taking place. The team is doing well, but not quite first-place-fantastic like perennial favorite and long-time rival Manila Bulletin. Teammate Brian Afuang has just DNF’d his practice run and first official heat (there are only two official runs), Manny is a modest second fastest behind Manila Bulletin photographer Anjo Perez, and teammate and self-confessed motorcycle addict Lester Dizon is about to do his first practice and official run. "We need you." Manny adds.

I am so flattered at this unabashed demand for my presence ASAP that I hustle back on the road to Manila with sufficient speed that I miss a turn and end up near Los Baños instead of Calamba. One wrong turn deserves another, and so I actually run a red light I honestly miss at the intersection of Taft and EDSA, whereupon a tough-looking policeman flags me down and won’t quite believe my meek protestations of innocence. But since I’m such a cooperative lawbreaker who readily surrenders his driver’s license because, heck, it is my fault — the said cop decides to let me go with a stern warning instead.

With my faith in the authorities restored (this would be the second time in three months that I’ve been let off for a traffic violation) once again, I make my way to Roxas Boulevard and phone Manny to tell him I am now just ten minutes away. He is quite lukewarm about my late arrival, mostly because the morning’s official heats have ended and so I have missed my first chance to make my team proud. This is because the tarmac course (the last round was dirt) is so devilishly deceptive that my chances of doing a fast time-trial on my last remaining heat have gone down not just 50 per cent, but more like 70 per cent.

To make matters worse, a noontime shower blows in, making everyone wonder what the implications will be on the slightly modified Civics’ grip. It is a fast course: tight, with multiple gates, chicanes, turnarounds, and vertigo-inducing yellow bunting that — if you’re not paying attention or going too fast — can send you into a wrong turn in milliseconds. Manny tells me that most of the drivers made wrong turns during the morning heat. I wonder just how badly I could possibly flub my run on an unfamiliar course knowing I have missed out on free practice, one official practice lap, and one official heat already.

What’s done is done though, and so I and Drive.com’s editor Eric Soriano sit down at the grandstand to watch other participants from various media outfits twist and turn the Michelin-shod Civics on the course. I try to visualize myself in the driver’s seat while I watch other people do their last remaining run, but really, it’s quite hard to do because I didn’t even get to walk the track. So I take a nap instead and wake up to hear my name being called over the PA system. Game time. Manny walks over and tells me we are about four seconds slower than current first-placer Manila Bulletin. This means I must make up for that time if we are to win this round and tie with that newspaper in the overall standings. No pressure!

After a slow familiarization lap (thank God it was allowed for latecomers) and while I’m trying to concentrate on the course as I wait for my turn, Manila Bulletin’s Anjo Perez and Aris Ilagan trot over to my window and cheer me on. This is negative encouragement, of course, and I resist the urge to roll over their toes. Manny comes over and tells me to do my best. No pressure! I tell "Art" the navigator that I will just play safe and take it easy, rather like my familiarization lap. Better to be slow and finish than be fast and DNF, I reason. Little does he know that I am lying and intend to flog the Civic or die trying.

At the three-two-one count, I launch the car at 4000 rpm and head into the first gate, swerve into the next that is to the left, and then sweep into a fast right. Heel-and-toe into first, slingshot around a diamond-shaped turnaround and into a right-left-right chicane past another gate. Heel-and-toe again into two square corners back into that gate (right in front of the other competitors, I might add), do the chicane again, then heel-and-toe once more into the diamond. A model of precision driving, if I do say so myself.

This time, it’s a tricky entry into another gate with a slight kink into another gate. This is the part of the track that Manny warned me would be tricky, but I like kinky stuff anyway and...err, never mind. Once past that gate, it’s a swerve into the last gate where I’m back in second gear and past the timing sensor thingamajig. Pulse returning back to normal (I wonder what my heart rate is during a time-trial like this?), Art strains his neck to see the time on the official clock but we’re too far. He does say that he can see the Manila Bulletin boys and Manny laughing.

Guess I blew it once again, eh? Exiting the car in doubt, which I park some distance from the ominously quiet media tent, Manny greets me, shakes my hand, and gives his congratulations. My make-or-break run was only slower by one second to Anjo’s and milliseconds behind Manny’s. Good enough for Third Fastest Time of the Day. Fast enough for the team’s cumulative time to close the gap to Manila Bulletin’s and lead them with a three second cushion to win Round Two of the Honda Civic Media Challenge! No pressure.

The Top Three points leaders in the Team standings are currently Manila Bulletin (63), The Philippine STAR (63), and C!-Auto Extreme (54). Anjo Perez currently leads the individual standings with a total of 60, followed by Dodjie Aguila of DRP-Klite-Today with 45 points and Jess Garcia of DZRH with 36. The 2003 Honda Civic Media Challenge is also supported by Caltex Havoline, Michelin, Tiara Commercial and Industrial Corporation, Aitech, and Nodalo’s.