Clemen Pancho wins Philippine Masters 2013
The Philippine Masters 2013 at Junkyard RC Race Track, the biggest event for 1/8th RC Nitro Offroad in the Philippines, ended just a few days ago and it was another successful Masters as racers from different places joined the 2 day event despite the heavy downpour the night before the big day. On Saturday morning as drivers started to show up at the trac the weather looked really bad as it was still drizzling lightly, but since the entire track was covered the whole night while raining the track remained in good shape for racing. 3 rounds of qualifying started around 10 a.m and the thick clouds started to clear a little. During the first set of qualifying, drivers were having a hard time producing a good lap as some parts of the track were covered with mud and made the cars heavy. In the 2nd and 3rd qualifying rounds, the track was in perfect condition with good grip and Aussie driver Zac Ryan with his Losi/Novarossi took the overall TQ with 16 laps with only a 0.02 seconds ahead of one of the top local Serpent/Novarossi driver Clemen Pancho.
The one hour A-Main started around 5pm and the thick clouds started to hover around the track but this did not stop racers to have fun on the track. Finals started with TQ Zac Ryan (Losi/Novarossi/AKA) and 2nd placed Clemen Pancho(Serpent/Novarossi/AKA) pulling away from the pack early on. Zac was maintaining a comfortable 10 seconds lead until the first pit stop as he was the first to pit at the 6-7 minute mark and Clemen with his Novarossi Bonito was pitting at the 10 minute mark. It was a great show between the two drivers as they were exchanging positions. Zac unfortunately had a very costly flameout midway through the race and dropped 1 lap behind Clemen, giving the local driver a bit of a breather, which combined with his very consistent driving skills and experience he could retain his crown, a 3rd win for the Serpent driver. 2nd place went to Zac Ryan and 3rd place to Edward Sio who started 10th on the grid and was able to grab the 4th spot after few minutes of racing and then further able to take the 3rd place from another Aussie driver Christian Jones who suffered a mechanical problem.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
