Roman, Santiago post U'bone, Scooter wins

MANILA, Philippines - Anthony Roman of Castrol-Dudshop and Ivan Santiago of JVT Racing turned back their respective rivals to fashion out victories in the fifth leg of the Philippine Underbone King Championships and the 2012 Philippine Scooter Racing Championships at the Batangas Racing Circuit recently.

Roman seized control from start to finish to rule the premiere 150cc Underbone race while Santiago pulled away in a four-man battle in the final lap to clinch the premiere 180cc Scooters crown in the event sanctioned by the Underbone and Scooters Racing Association (USRA) and backed by FDR as the official tires.

Roman turned in a fastest laptime of 2:01.970 in the second lap, or three seconds faster than his rivals to pull away midway before wrapping up the 10-lap race in 20 minutes and 38.444 seconds or 5.511 seconds ahead of his Castrol-Dudshop teammate Nino Fabian with Marvin Mangulabnan checking in third a minute later.

The win firmed up Roman’s bid for back-to-back Underbone King plum as he pooled 114 points against Fabian and Mangulabnan who toted 100 and 99 points, respectively.

Santiago slipped to fourth in the third lap but fought back to challenge Cassey Ng of MTRT. He finally wrested the top spot with three laps to go and went on to rule the 10-lap 180cc. Scooter race in 20 minutes and 4.777 seconds or 2.779 seconds ahead of another MTRT rider James Barcial.

Miko Erich Montano of JVT Racing placed third while Paul Mark Doblada and Arlan de la Cruz also of JVT Racing came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

MTRT earlier scored a 1-2 finish in the 160cc Scooters behind James Barcial and Ralph Kenneth Torres with Montano and Jeffrey Tria finishing third and fourth, respectively.

Still, Montano remains on course for a double title as he leads the 180cc. Scooters with 114 points, 10 points ahead of teammate Arlan dela Cruz. He also kept a big lead in the 160cc Scooters with 115 points against Marvin Marquez and Romer Corbe, who have 75 and 62 points, respectively.

Robert Matthew Ramos pulled an upset over Juver Mirasol, Jeffrey Roland Tria and Vrei-AR Suba in the 130cc Scooters but Mirasol stayed on top with 107 points with Suba and Tria in joint second with 93 points.

Newcomer Edze Zuniga bagged the 130cc Open plum, beating John Allen Mendez, James Aldrin Mendez and Michael Altamira. But Altamira kept the lead with 107 points against the Mendez brothers – John Allen (80 pts.) and James Aldrin (63 pts.).

Suba ruled the 115cc Novice class over Hajime Tadachi and Clint James Nolasco to move closer to the overall crown as he now earned a total of 118 points or 10 points ahead of Tadachi’s 108.

James Aldrin Mendez also bagged the 115cc Open Underbone crown to keep the top spot with 100 points against Gerald Cruz and Clint Nolasco who garnered 91 and 40 points respectively.

The Moto IR, tagged as the grassroot level for Superbikes, saw Rizaldy Canare pulling a close-shaved triumph by just 0.002 of a second ahead of Marvin Mangulbnan and third placer Anthony Roman.

The final leg is set October 7 at the Clark International Speedway.

For further details, interested parties may contact the Batangas Racing Circuit c/o Nelson Gayola or Rodini Rivera at (632) 729-72 41-42, 729-5365 or fax 844-7766, Mobile # 0922 8858410 or like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ Batangas Racing Circuit.