Off-road drivers from Baguio and Benguet secured podium finishes at the 3rd Ablas ning Balas 3-Man Team 4×4 Off-Road Challenge, taking home third-place trophies in both the individual modified and team categories from July 10 – 12 in Porac, Pampanga.
Rodrigo Saguiyod led the Baguio-Benguet 4×4 Club by placing third in the individual modified division. Osburn Visaya and JC Dally also represented the club in the production class held along the Pasig-Potrero River in Barangay Manibaug Pasig in Porac.
Saguiyod then joined forces with Dally and Delfer Faustino to capture third place in the signature three-man team event supported by navigators Denver Karry, Dindo Acosta, and Rafael Dugay.
The team’s participation was backed by George Yubos, club president Ervin Tan, Jerson Faustino and Efler Sab-it.
Held as the centerpiece sports tourism event of Porac’s annual ‘Ablas ning Balas Festival’, the competition tested the endurance, navigation, and winching skills of off-roaders from across Luzon, negotiating terrain carved out by lahar deposits, drivers navigated water-logged channels, silt traps, and steep embankment climbs.
Unlike single-vehicle sprints, the three-man team format required synchronized precision, with teams scored on speed, technical execution, and coordination.
Under event rules, all three vehicles in a team had to complete specialized obstacle stages together, requiring drivers to anchor onto one another and deploy recovery winches through shifting sand.
The competition highlighted Porac’s ongoing transformation of its post-Pinatubo landscape into a hub for motorsports tourism.
Established under Mayor Jaime “Jing” Capil to mark the town’s recovery from the 1991 eruption and showcase its quarrying industry, the festival drew spectators, motor enthusiasts, and local vendors to the river embankments. NLMonitor
