Hot and smelly! For those who haven't been to the Manila Harbour Centre, that was the greeting we got upon arriving at the temporary strip.

Gloom seemed to eminate from the team tents of Auto Plus and Redline Racing. Both their Civic EG's were already sidelined! Time trials haven't even officially begun!

Raymond Go's Silver Bullet damaged its ring gear. Prior to this event, broken axles were to the norm for this high-HP hatchback. The installation of stronger axles could now transfer the power, but the tired final drive gear gave way this time.

Marvin Montecillo's normal carriage had other gremlins to deal with. Last event, they had to trailer the Black EG because of internal parts inadvertently "meeting". It turns out the meeting wasn't over as it happened once again. The top dog in the all motor category was out, before the battle even began.

As usual, people started to arrive at around 2-3pm. Why the PDRF still insists on starting the event early is beyond me. Don't they know drag racers party on Friday nights? Apparently not.

To commemorate the untimely demise of veteran drag racer, Jo Maglonso, "Old School" racers were out in force! Jeepsters, A rotary powered Corolla, an old Corona and even a Ford "Mexico" Escort populated the pit area. We even spotted an Opel Manta, vintage 1972 or so. This car was spotless! A car show quality race car!

Also present with a large following was MSF Autoworks. Their fleet of Honda Civics were ready for battle.

Since AutoPlus' Silver Bullet was trailered off to their shop, Francisco Blanco enjoyed running one their customer's Turbo EK Civic. His burnouts were truly entertaining! It was nice to see some one HEATING UP their tires. It worked, too. He won the Sportsman category by running consistent low 13's!

What stood out most in my mind was the fact that most of the field was comprised of 15 second cars. Past events were made of slower performing cars. It seems that slowly, but surely, the development of performance is on an upward plane. Running against a timing system really does help in knowing what does and doesn't work.

Matonetics was present with "Just Two", Willie Chua's Turbo SiR, John D. Chua's All motor EG and Jet Mathay's Turbo EK9. These cars ripped down the 1320 with a vengance! All of them qualified for the PRO Class. By far, the strongest showing for ONE TEAM!

To further their dominance, Mato Tan ran an astonishing 10.88@132 MPH (in practice). Just to illustrate his performance that day, his first pass was an 11.06 sec., qualifying him for the top spot in the Pro Class. Unfortunately, Mato was unable to set a new official record. In the All Turbo Category, Mato on his first run launch with such ferocity! Upon engaging second... he found out he lost second gear... completely! He was done for the day.

Here are the Winners of the day:

All in all, this was one of the best event of the PDRF. A crop of fast cars joined and "Old School" battled side by side with the "New Generation" of drag racers. Though, the event did run long due to paper work that the PDRF insists on using (dial-in time forms) and an erant motorcyclist that kept circling the finish line area. Nothing that some white shoe polish and a more attentive security force couldn't cure.

Next PDRF event: May 12

C U @ D Strip!!!