When we found ourselves back on the circuit this year, it was pure bliss. Back in fighting form to defend our title (we won the overall title two years ago, the last time the series was held) were The STAR’s motoring scribes Manny de los Reyes, Andy Leuterio and Lester Dizon. As was our account executive/karter extraordinaire Jeff Reyes. Me? I had always played the role of "manager" during past Media Challenges — cheering at the sidelines and attending to the needs of my more aggressive drivers/compatriots. Take me to a fuel-economy run anytime and I’ll end up among the better runners, but the racetrack has always been the domain of my other companions at The STAR.
For five weeks over three months we’d go back and forth to the Carmona Racing Circuit where we ran round after round against our media companions — first in a practice/familiarization run then in a full-fledged series. Our Manila Bulletin rivals, who’ve been exchanging championship trophies with us since the series began a few years back, were back in tip-top shape. As were a new batch of good, young drivers from C! Magazine (Our other columnist James Deakin was actually even assigned captain of this third powerhouse team, as he serves as a senior editor among the C! staff). A vastly improved Manila Times team and a few good drivers from Top Gear as well as the occasional good showing from members of other media outfits had us on our toes.
In that span of time, we experienced our ups and downs, taking the occasional trash talking in stride and dishing it out ourselves when the time was right. We certainly tried to function as much as a team as we could. Even our occasional Business Motoring section contributor Ayvi Nicolas came in to show some support over rounds three and four. This solid team attitude is probably why we held through quite well as it became apparent that we weren’t out to dominate as individuals. Lester barely missed the podium during the first round of the series. Andy carried us through the second round with a solid second place finish. Jeff and Manny then took 1P and 2P respectively in round three to set up a nail-biting finale with the boys from Bulletin. Alas, the Manila Bulletin took our best shots and clambered out of the quagmire in admirable fashion in round four. Even as Jeff pulled out a solid second place podium, the Bulletin triumvirate of Anjo Perez, Popong Andolong and Aris Ilagan proved solid in times of pressure. C! Magazine, as expected, followed a strong third right at our heels. A well-deserved congratulations to all!
However, as Lester would put it after the series finally came to an end, a second place finish is something we can still be proud of. Manila Bulletin has always shown up against us, and this time, they just happened to have a little more juice in the end. We comfort ourselves in the thought that the last time the boys from the Manila Bulletin pulled the rug from underneath our feet, we came back and took the championship from them the year after. As long as the Honda Media Challenge is there to show what Honda production cars can do on the racetrack, we’ll be there fighting tooth and nail for our spot in the sun — and the stars.
Editor’s Note: Congratulations not only to Honda Philippines for staging another memorable Media Challenge but also to Race Director/Motorsports Living Legend Tito Pocholo Ramirez and to the rest of the folks at ADBM resources for a job well done. See you all next year!