When When outclasses male rivals

Top female driver When When Dagondon of Vannitec bucked the challenge of her male rivals as she ruled the Pro class recently in the seventh leg of the 2008 San Mig Coffee Drag Racing Championship at the Batangas Racing Circuit Drag Strip.

Dagondon clocked 12.370 seconds for her second triumph in this event sponsored by San Mig Coffee and supported by San Miguel Corp., Pilipinas Shell, PagCor Sports, Fujitsu Ten Corp. of the Phils., Denso, Yokohama and Stoplight TV.

She turned back another top driver Sheldon Chua who suffered engine problems along the way and finished runner-up in  29.267 seconds.

Frontrunning Anthony Go of Team Ere wound up third but keeps solo lead in the Pro class.

“I’m very happy with the win. Everything went smooth for us and I just hope this victory would lure more women drivers into racing,” said Dagondon..

Sharing the limelight with Dagondon in this event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) was defending champion Jonathan Tiu of Team Ere who pulled a big win in the Quick 8 division to virtually capture the overall crown.

Tiu zoomed to the finish line with a time of 10.011 seconds in turning back Ed Christian Go of Blanche Racing to claim his sixth Quick 8 victory that assured him of a historic back-to-back Drag Racing Driver of the Year plum with  90 points.

Go, despite his runner-up finish, set a new national all-motor record of 10.844 seconds while Vanni Garcia of Vannitec ended third.

Winning the other classes were Carlo Evangelista of Group N, Lewy Manio of Jywell-Comet and Vic Mallare of Team Ready-Energizer.

Evangelista posted 13.192 seconds as he barely escaped with the victory by just 0.604 seconds in the final showdown with runner-up Anthony Allan Bello of Team Bats who had 13.796 seconds.

Current leader Paul Henderson Perez of Alps Racing finished third with 13.957.

Manio ruled the Sportsman class with 15.625 seconds over Mark Molina of TMC who clocked 16.181 seconds while Van Joel Vergara of Group N-Montavita took third place.

Mallare, on the other hand, topped the Hot Street division with a time of 16.177 seconds over runner-up Reivan Santiago of Just Racing and third placer Fritz Olan of Group N who posted 16.556 and 18.678 seconds respectively.

For full results and other inquiries, interested parties may log on at www.batangasracingcircuit.com or contact the Batangas Racing Circuit c/o BRC Operations Manager Rodini Rivera or Nelson Gayola at (632) 817-2241, 729-5365 or fax 815-1241 for details.