Millet off to blazing start

MANILA, Philippines — Arvin Jay Millet set course for a third successive Driver of the Year title with a solid opening-leg victory in the premier M&H Pro class of the 2020 National Drag Racing Championships at Clark International Speedway’s drag strip in Pampanga recently.

The 27-year-old Millet clocked 12.130 seconds over the quarter mile in a 255-wheel horsepower, 2-liter Honda Civic hatchback, besting Jonathan Thompson in the final faceoff by almost two car lengths.

Jannery Millet bowed to his cousin Arvin and settled for third in the racing bracket where stricter car preparation rules, and limits to engine muscle level the playing field.

But it was Carlos Lim who scored the biggest win in the leg, upending Cesar Castillo and the multi-titled Jonathan Tiu in Quick 8, the elite class among the competition‘s eight most powerful cars.

The 44-year-old Lim clocked 10.056 seconds in his 907-whp Honda Civic K24, beating Castillo in another Civic by more than two car lengths in the finals of the races sanctioned by the Automobile Association of the Philippines.

Tiu, the reigning two-area national Quick 8 champion, settled for third over Mark Yanson but made up for it by ruling the M&H Super Pro class over Castillo and Allan Ararao.

Also posting victories in what was also the kickoff leg of the competition’s Northern Series were Harold Canarias over Ryan Patrick Constantino in the Expert class, Benok Licudine over Orlando Villadelgado (Sportsman) and Allan Pabustan over Gabriel Lampa (Hotstreet).