MANILA , 25 October — Twenty-year-old Enzo Pastor became this year’s Asian Formula Renault Championship winner.
Interestingly, he became only the second Filipino in history to bag an international racing series crown after the late Jovy Marcelo achieved a similar championship in the United States Auto Racing Club Formula Atlantic Series in the 1980s.
Another Filipino, the late Dodjie Laurel, emerged as Macau Grand Prix champion, a one-day race, in the 1960s.
Pastor dominated Rounds 11 and 12 of the series at the highly-technical Johor Circuit in Malaysia to overtake erstwhile leader Frankie Cheng of China with his total of 236 points. Cheng had 214 after 12 rounds.
Since the 49th Macau Grand Prix is fast approaching, drivers in the series requested the organizing Formula Racing Development Limited to cancel the last two rounds set in Subic this coming weekend and instead organize a race in Zhuhai, China to better prepare for the annual Macau race.
FRD obliged and declared Pastor the 2002 champion.
With the victory, Pastor gained an opening to other series such as Asian Formula 3 Championship and the European Formula Renault Championship, where current McLarren Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen was discovered.
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Athletics chief sacks long jump coach
Athletics chief Go Teng Kok has fired the women’s long jump coach and reprimanded four other coaches even as he ordered a massive overhaul of the track and field program in the wake of the association’s dismal showing in the recent Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.
In a move that is expected to be followed by 20 other national sports associations which failed to deliver in Busan, Go sacked Alexander Ligtas, coach of long jump bets Lerma Bulauitan and Marestella Torres.
The fiery president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association also reprimanded head coach Dario de Rosas and staffers Mario Castro, Isidro del Prado and Romeo Guido for various reasons which contributed to the lowly performance of the RP tracksters.
"I won’t offer any alibi," said Go. "We lost because we didn’t perform according to our abilities. I accept all responsibilities and I hope we could learn something from the defeat."
The country finished with three golds — in bowling, billiards and equestrian — seven silvers and 16 bronzes, to surpass its 1998 performance where the RP bets only won one gold.
Still, the output was still way below the seven gold medals projected by sports officials led by Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain and chief of mission Tom Carrasco.
Go said Bulauitan and Torres themselves asked to be transferred to another coach because Ligtas wasn’t talking to them during the games let alone offer instructions during the competition.
"I think he (Ligtas) has personal problems because he didn’t event carry the girls’ bags during competition which is one of the coach’s duty to let the athletes concentrate on competition alone," Go added.
Go said that De Rosas left for Manila early even as men’s long jumper Jobert Delicano was still competing in the final.
Del Prado, Go said, failed to act promptly when the name of 800m bet John Lozada was scratched from the heats lineup even though the Filipino was ranked third in Asia according to his personal time.
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Full force in Vietnam SEA Games
The country’s top sports officials said they plan to use the coming Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam next year as a springboard to dominate the next SEA Games which the country will host in 2005.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Eric Buhain and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Celso Dayrit declared that the country must try to regain its position as a top sports power in the region.
Buhain said he wants a full complement of athletes, representing all sports, to the Vietnam Games in the hope that in 2005, when the country plays host to the biennial meet, Filipino athletes will be ready to battle for the overall championship.
"Our athletes’ performance in the last Asian Games is proof that they can win in the higher Asian level of competition which, to me, is the most significant development in our participation," said Buhain.
"Our job now as leaders in sports is to follow this up with a more vigorous preparation to complement what they attained," he added. "And the time to think about it is now and not in the near future.
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Filipino boxer loses OPBF welter title
Cebuano southpaw Rev "Gentle Giant" Santillan lost his Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) welterweight crown via a controversial split decision against Japanese challenger Hiroshi Watanabe at the Komaki Park Arena in Komaki, Japan.
Making his fourth defense of the title, the 25-year-old Santillan pressed the action from the start against Watanabe who occasionally moved away from the champion’s telling blows.
But to Santillan’s surprise, two of the three judges had the Japanese ahead with a score of 116-114 and 116-113. The third judge had the southpaw Santillan ahead, 117-112.
The title fight was a rematch where their first fight ended in a draw.
The loss dropped Santillan’s record to 15-1-1, 12 by knockout and may also cost him his lofty WBC No. 10 ranking.
In other boxing news, Philippine featherweight champion Jeffrey Oñate failed in his bid to snatch the OPBF crown when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to WBC No. 7 Takashi Koshimoto. Official scores of the bout were 120-108, 118-110 and 119-107 all for the Oriental champion.
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Caltex’s Coseteng virtual champ,
rider of the year
After four consecutive setbacks, crowd favorite and Caltex Havoline-Autoplus lead driver Jody Coseteng came back with a vengeance.
He raced like there’s no more tomorrow and pulled the deciding sweep that virtually clinched the Philippine National Touring Car crown and the coveted Driver of the Year last leg staged at the Batangas Racing Circuit in Rosario, Batangas.
With the win, Coseteng amassed a total 132 points and all he needs to do is to formally claim the championship trophy even if he doesn’t race in the final leg set Oct. 26-27 at the Subic International Raceway.
"It’s all in the bag," said Autoplus co-team owner Carlos Gono as soon as Coseteng reached the finish line.
"It was the win that mattered most. We never had doubts that Coseteng will deliver the goods. His victory only proved the tandem of Caltex Havoline and Autoplus’ high performance cars is simply perfect for circuit racing," said Paul Familara, Caltex Philippines product category manager for lubricants sales and marketing.
It proved to be a hassle-free weekend for Coseteng as Autoplus team manager Raul Ylanan made sure all variables were checked to ensure the victory.
Even Caltex Havoline-Autoplus co-driver Nilo Pazcoguin unveiled a much better performance, winding up fourth and third in Race 9 and 10, respectively.
Tension gripped the start of the first race as Jojo Silverio stuck too close for comfort in the first four laps. But Coseteng kept his poise, putting up a strong defensive line at the curve and jacked up speed at the straight to pull ahead on the eighth lap.
He finished the 15-lap race in 34:29.479 or 5.203 seconds ahead of Silverio.
The heavy afternoon rains further proved Autoplus’ precision in car preparation. The rain tires set up by Autoplus mechanics made the big difference.
Midway the final race, Coseteng was already 19 seconds ahead of Silverio.
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FedEx Tour draws slew of veterans, beginners
The Air21 Express Tour Pilipinas has so far attracted hundreds of riders across the nation, enticing even some of the big guns who once made their mark in the fabled cycling tour.
Two-time King of the Mountain Carlo Guieb has decided to reactivate himself from retirement while Renato Dolosa, Southern Tagalog’s most celebrated rider in the past decade, vowed to take another stab at glory when the 14-stage Air21 Express tour takes off next year.
Guieb, Dolosa and RP team standout Victor Espiritu will lead more than 300 riders during the pre-qualifying races on Nov. 10 and 17 in Pililia, Rizal for Luzon aspirants and Nov. 23 in Argao, Cebu for Visayas and Mindanao participants.
The riders will submit themselves to a 40-kilometer Individual Time Trial challenge after which the tour selection committee cuts down the field to 120 riders.
The 120 cyclists will be further trimmed down to 100 in a 180-km massed start race from Antipolo City to Real, Quezon on Dec. 1 before finally funneling the best 80 riders from the pack after a 50-km Individual Time Trial final qualifying race the following day.
The lucky 80 riders will be known as "The Express Riders 2003."
They will vie for the 200,000 pesos individual prize and a cool million in the team event at stake during the 14-day cycling odyssey tentatively scheduled April 25-May 11.
On the tour’s grand launching late this month, Air21 Express Tour organizers will unveil a new name and logo for the 2003 season.
"Though the tour is still six months away we are already moving things just to ensure its success," said Air21 chair Bert Lina, the new leader of Philippine cycling after putting the tour back on the road last summer.
Lina, along with Air21 president Lito Alvarez, mapped out a five-year restoration plan in a drastic bid to put the country in the world cycling map.
Air21, the sole licensee of FedEx in the Philippines, rescued the tour from near extinction by coming up with a four-stage Express Tour of Calabarzon five months ago.
