BATANGAS RACING CIRCUIT.....

A Very Wet Track.....





A Japanese Sounding Name But is a Brazilian....





"Awesome Car Dude!"....





The Top Three on The First Corner.....





Full Speed Ahead!.....





"Drats! Spoiled Again!".....





Winner's Circle





To my surprise, people at the club buzzed and asked President Gigi to organize a trip going to Batangas when we met at Greenbelt Onstage One to shoot the dress rehearsal for "Tuesdays With Morrie".

"Do you want to go to Batangas next Saturday?" someone asked me. "Where in Batangas are we going?" I asked back. "To the Batangas Racing Circuit. Let's watch the races of the ongoing Asian Formula 3 Racing Series."

It didn't take me that long to give a favorable answer. The AF3 is like watching a Formula 1 race, it being similar to F1 but on a lower level tier and scale. I wanted to hear the sound of engines running around the race track like a swarm of bees and feel the excitement of watching such a race. And having Lian, Bless and Buboy for company in a trip is something I look forward to every time. With all the logistics in place and those involved amenable to it, all was set.

It was amazing! The trip went okay. Our journey to Batangas was pleasurable but the falling rain almost dampened our vigor to shoot. All of us didn't want our cameras to get soaked. It's a good thing I had a towel with me to protect my camera from being exposed to the raindrops although a plastic bag can give better protection. We were at the top part of the grandstand to give us a better view of the action. It was still rainy and foggy. There were talks that the final race might be postponed. The race was delayed because the organizers were closely inspecting the tracks, whether or not it was fit to have the race cars run on a slick track.

Eventually, the final race was given the go signal to start. And even in the slippery track, the guys went all out to upstage one another, trying to get the advantage to be in the lead. And because of the wet track, it provided a more entertaining race as a slide which made the front runner lose his brakes and into a tailspin made the underdog who was in fifth place at the starting position win the match. Another car got stalled, perhaps had engine trouble, as the dejected driver climbed out of his car and left it at the side of the track.

Unlike at Subic when we had a chance to meet Gaby dela Merced, this time, we didn't meet any race car driver. They were mostly foreigners and not one was a Filipino. Gone were the days when AF3 was ruled by Filipino drivers with Tyson Sy, Bong Pastrana, Gaby and I think even Michelle Bumgarner who at one time was the Female Karter of the year in the Philippines raced against each other under different teams.

We had so much fun. Entertaining ourselves with talks about our experiences, gossip about people we all knew and eating in a restaurant with sumptuous local cuisine of Bulalo Soup and Beef Karekare made our journey back to Manila a stress free one, even if we seem to be in a depressing traffic jam!

It has always been a pleasure to go out with these group of people. Until the next road trip guys!