Ararao, Tiu brace for showdown

Allan Ararao took the fight out of the heavily favored Jonathan Tiu for only the first time in the season to rule the elite Quick 8 class in the penultimate leg of the 2018 National Drag Racing Championships at Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC) recently.

By upending Tiu with a time of 7.003 seconds over the eighth-mile BRC straightaway and picking up his second win to add to two runner-up finishes in four legs, Ararao topped the Southern Series at BRC with 50 points, 10 up on Tiu.

The speed demon from Las Piñas also pushed his Mitsubishi Evo within 14 points of Tiu and his 1,318-horsepower Nissan GTR in the National Series (71-47), counting the results of the Northern Series, which holds the decisive season-ending leg at Clark International Speedway this weekend.

Rommel Dural clocked 7.335 seconds in his faceoff with Alviin Abrigo and clinched third in the races sponsored by Aguila Auto Glass, Sparco, M&H race tire.

But while Ararao edged closer to the top of the class confined to the series’ quickest eight cars, Neil Malko Macatangay failed to pick up a single point in the leg and allowed Jannery Millet and Ryan Quimpo to forge a down-the-wire showdown for the Pro class national title—the basis for the Drag Racer of the Year winner.

“Every race class comes to a close this weekend with the title still undecided,” said organizer Johnny Tan. “This makes for a great two days of racing at Clark.”