PTCC Rounds 3 and 4

Well, it was a smash. Literally.

Group 3's morning race wound up with at least two cars put out of commission as Miguel Lazaro of Team Shift made a disastrous bid for first, bumping into Doc Peewee Mendiola's car causing it to turn and smash into one of the concrete barrier leading out of the Subic International Raceway's hairpin just a few hundred meters from the last turn into the straightaway before the start/finish line. Big Chill's Mendiola, from various accounts, got the worst of the collission, with the right side of his body and head probably slamming on his car's dashboard after his seat came loose from the force of the impact -- which also knocked one of the thousand pound concrete blocks serving as part of the barrier. In the afternoon, Mendiola was seen with a swollen right arm and the right side of his face was badly bruised. The other car that figured in the collision was that of Akula Racing's Niko Montinola, who went through the incident with out a scratch but his car took the brunt of it. Lazaro was said to have been fined some P30,000 for wreckless driving. An observer, having watched several angles of video footage, said that it seemed there was no evidence that Lazaro made an attempt to avoid collission with Mendiola's car -- no brake lights went on. Montinola had remarked that Lazaro shouldn't even have tried anything in that area, specially when rookies -- referring to himself, probably -- were close by. "He should know better."

(more later)