Carlos Anton, the 2007 National Hill Climb champion, banked on his knowledge of local conditions – over four kilometers of twisting and turning tarmac and altitude change of 275 meters – to dominate 57 riders, 38 of them from Baguio, and rule Rounds 2 and 3 of the 2008 Hill Climb Series recently in Itogon, Benguet.
The event, hosted by Castrol Magnatec in partnership with Wave 89.1, Hotwire Studio 23, San Miguel by the Bay, Eibach Springs, Speedlab and Prince Plaza Hotel, was organized by the Hill Climb Club of the Philippines in support of the Hub of Hope free daycare and breast milk bank.
In Round 2, Anton in a Honda CRX posted the only sub-three-minute time (2:59.28). Carlo Garcia in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI was second (3:07.02, and Jem Querimit in a Lancer Evo IX third (3:12.98).
Anton again took overall victory in Group 4, followed by Garcia (3:05.27) and Querimit (3:01.01). The other winners were Vin Santos in a Honda CRX (3:04.61), Onchie Mercado in a Honda Civic (3:10.79) and Marc Thomann also in a Civic (3:14.10) in Group 3; Imay Datu in a Civic (3:22.81), Lance Binamira in a Toyota Corolla (3:28.06), and Steve Acayan in another Corolla (3:29.95) in Group 2; and Peter Binamira in a Corolla (3:52.65), Gary Cating in a Toyota Echo (3:59.45),and Frankie Domingo in a Hyundai Getz (4:12.21) in Group 1.
Other group winners were Santos (3:04.56), Garry Loy in a Civic (3:16.04) and Mario Dipasupil in another Civic (3:18.18) in Group 3; Acayan (3:26.33),Lance Binamira (3:28.06) and Dominic Acosta (3:40.69) in a Civic; and BJ Abadilla in a Corolla (3:47.24), Riel del Rosario in a Lancer (3:53.36) and Cating (3:56.75) in Group 1.
In the Historic Class, it was an all-Volkswagen Beetle podium as Mark Quinto (4:00.67), Ronnie Manalo (4:14.90) and Eko Adan (4:27.92) closed out the top three.
The briefing and scrutineering for the next round of the 2008 Hill Climb Series will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in San Miguel by the Bay at the Mall of Asia complex.