Del Rosario dominates Enduro Memorial Cup

SUBIC — Back-to-back national champion Paul del Rosario showed the way over his rivals to capture the historic first Roland Aguila Offshore Enduro Memorial Cup at the Waterfront beach here.

It was the third trophy for Del Rosario after bagging the premiere Expert Runabout Super Stock 1200 and the Stand-up titles in the closed course races.

He grabbed the lead on the third lap and never slowed down from thereon to emerge the Offshore Ironman and champion in the Expert Open class over Carlo Baltao.

The event, sponsored by Petron Corporation and WG&A Super Ferry, turned out to be a tight battle between Del Rosario and last leg’s Ironman Perry Yao of the Roland Aguila Team in the early goings.

But Yao suffered an engine problem and took the pits after completing three laps.

From there, Del Rosario stepped on the gas, erected a wide margin over his rivals and completed eight rigorous laps around El Grande Island in the one-hour race organized by the Jet Sports Association of the Philippines (JSAP).

Aguila’s wife Mila, escorted by family members, awarded the exquisite silver cup to Del Rosario and silver plates to the other winners together with JSAP president Joey Mantolino and race director Sonny Yalung.

Yao’s teammate Nilo Santiago checked in second to claim the Expert 1200 plum while Wilfred So came in third to rule the Novice division over newcomer Dennis Ong and third placer Erik San Pedro.

Bobby del Rosario finished fourth overall to win the Executive class over Henry Dee while Ben Sun Que topped the Veterans 785 division.