Motorcycle Philippines

Whew!!! What a weekend!!! It’s like a dream come true for me. Never did I imagine myself in this situation because I am a professional working at Makati. But yes, it happened, I’ve just had my first official race at the Batangas Racing Circuit last Sunday, September 10, 2006. I did participate in the annual Endurance Race and not only that, I’ve got the chance to race with the top racers in our country like Jolet Jao, Maico Buncio, and other pro racers. But let me tell you first my preparations before the race…

Monday, September 4, 2006, a typical working day at the office. Typical applications are also opened on my workstation and of course Yahoo messenger is one of them for its conference room feature. Everyday, the Xploreres Philippines had their own conference toom and the topic was the Endurance race. The motorstar management can’t get some pro racers to take the z200 on this event. This will be the first time the z200 will be tested on the race track here in our country. So I did volunteer to be part of this race, without considering the fact that my girlfriend and my family won’t definitely agree with my decision. But hey, this is my dream and the only thing I need think of is how I should prepare for this race. And the first thing that came up in my mind is how I should tell my girlfriend and my family about it. When I got home, brought some cheesy presents for my girlfriend (SUHOL!!!) and did the dishes, (SUHOL nanaman!!!)hehehehe. Then I told her about the race and the next letters that were slapped on my face are the letters N and O. Actually, she doesn’t agree on me driving my bike and even racing using it. So we’ve had a little LQ.

The next morning, the only thing that I am thinking of was the leather suit. Where in the world can I get a leather suit? That’s the question that has been stuck on my mind. I don’t have much time to save money for it. I still need to bring my boots to Mr. Quickie for the soles to be replaced. So with limited budget, I’ve decided to buy the newest knee/shin guard of scoyco. It will definitely give me the protection I needed with less the price. Thursday morning I’ve decided to buy it in Exceed, Caloocan. I do have a complete set of gears now. So what I need now is to rest until Saturday because I believe I need a lot of energy on the endurance race.

Saturday morning, I was awakened by my girlfriend to remind me of the time. I was surprised, knowing the fact that she was against my decision. She just told me “mag ingat ka dun ha, bawal girls”, hehehehehe. So I did prepare and pack up my things and went to Makati to meet the other riders. We left Makati by 11 pm. We’ve got some troubles going to Batangas Racing Circuit due to rains. We were using a pick up van and our things were exposed to rain at the back side of the van so we did a stop at SM bicutan to take our lunch and buy some cover for our things. Mission accomplished for us so we took off again. Going to BRC is not that easy for us. We were in Lipa City and we did find the De La Salle Lipa, McDonalds, and the Mercury Drug Store that was written on our map as our landmark. But the problem is we can’t find the small petron gas station and the motortrade on the map. We did asked some people there. And as we were helped by some people, we ended up at BRC by 4 pm. I was so excited going on that track, can’t wait to get the bike. But bad news came; the bike is still in Star Tollway. A little frustrated but fine because I can watch some riders on the track. And after 1 hour of waiting and picture taking, the bike arrived. I immediately sat on the bike to test it and it was my first lap on BRC. I was only running 60kph on the curves and the stretches because I was still feeling the bike. After two laps I returned on the pit stop to say my comments on our mechanic. The right handle bar was a little bit bended, causing the handling of the bike to suffer. We did some improvements on the bike based on every rider’s comments and we were off to the hotel for our sleep. The hotel was very nice but we can’t maximize the facilities since we need to rest because we will wake up by 3 am. All I can say by that time was “It is good to be a racer”.

It was 3 am, Sunday morning, when I woke up. So excited on the event, I immediately took a bath and prepared my things. At exactly 4:30 am, we took off to BRC. When we arrived, teams are already setting up their garages and bikes. Our mechanic did some adjustments on the bike to prepare it. We did sign the registration form and paid for the racing license that we had. After that, we immediately went to the pit lane for the briefing. I’ve learned a lot on that briefing, thanks to Mr. Jake Swann. I geared up after the briefing. But there was a problem, the ambulance wasn’t present yet so we need to wait for them first before proceeding to the practice. Unfortunately, they did arrive late, so the 45 minute practice time was cancelled. We were given 2 laps practice on the track. All riders and bikes were ready for the practice track and off we go. I was in the tail of the pack because I was still familiarizing myself on the track. Hahaha, I was way off the pack.

Exactly 8 am, the race started. I was not yet familiarize with the track so as a newbie on BRC, I was in the last place. Running at 80kph on the stretches and 60kph on the curves, I passed my first official lap with a time of 3 minutes and 5 seconds. I was having a hard time on my first 5 laps because of the lack of practice. What I did was I watched the other racers on how they handle the curves, and fortunately, I got it and applied it. I was confident on the curves after that. My knees, foot pegs, and my boots were touching the ground when I was passing the curves making me scream the words “WOOOHHHOOOO” because of the great feeling while on the curves. As my number of laps increased, my confidence on the track also increased. I was averaging 2 minutes and 50 seconds on the next laps. An hour passed by and it’s time for me to go to the pit stop for a replacement. Vince took off the pit stop and like me; he had a hard time on the first laps. He was averaging 3 minutes and 10 seconds on his first turn and after an hour, Sphinx took the chores. I was confident with sphinx because I knew that he did race before on BRC, but a sad incident happened. He did an overshoot on the S curve leaving him lying down on the grass and the bike thrown off. He picked up the bike and successfully returned on the pit stop. He had some bruises on his left hand and was rushed on the ambulance. It was now Brian’s turn to race. He did very well on the race track, averaging 2 minutes and 45 seconds. He was the most veteran on the track, I believe. But unfortunately, another incident happened. He did panic when the bike’s foot peg touched the ground on a curve, letting the bike fall. His left hand has received the worst damage. He was on the track for 10 minutes and then he decided to rush him to the ambulance. He was taken to the nearest hospital. Another 15 minutes passed by but we have no idea on how can we get the bike to the pit stop. Thanks to Mr. Swann, he allowed three of our staff to get the bike using the organizers van. The bike arrived at the pit stop but there are major damages. The left handle bar is now bended. The clutch was broken, but thanks to our brothers, they’ve donated they’re parts for the race. We did some refueling and we’re now ready to go off again. It was my turn to race again. Since I am now familiar with the track, I am now confident on the curves, I’ve even did some overtaking on some riders. I am now averaging 2 minutes and 45 minutes on my turn. Each lap, my confidence level on the track increased. Each lap, so many improvements received. I can now feel the speed on the track running at 100kph on the curves. After an hour, I went to the pit stop and Vince took over the chores again. He was now confident too. He was averaging 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Better that the first turn. Every lap, has was improving too. After an hour, it was my turn again. That time, I did feel the track completely. I was doing 110kph on some curves. By that time, the S curve was not a problem anymore. I’ve enjoyed the S curve on my last turn. I was averaging 2 minutes and 40 seconds on my last turn. And after an hour, Vince took off again up to the finish.

Dehydrated and exhausted, we achieved our goal, which is to finish the race. This is what sir Bobby wanted us to achieve. Not to win the race, but to finish the race. It simply proved that Motorstar bikes are high quality bikes. There are lots of bikes on the event that had some engine problems but the Motorstar bikes didn’t have engine problems. If only pro racers did the race for us, maybe Motorstar topped the race. One Motorstar bike entered the top ten, the MSX 125, beating the other Japan made bikes. This is to prove that they can compete with other bikes. As for me, I am planning to do a once a month practice on BRC to improve my skills. As Mr. Swann said, every rider has their first step. They’ve got to learn from their mistakes and I think that statement will stick in my mind. I am hoping still that I can join the next races to represent the Motorstar Racing Team.

Thanks and congratulations to the 4 brothers racing team, Sir Arco, Sir Jong, Sir Yannick, Sir Bobby, Sir Novo, Sir Brian, Sir Sphinx, Sir Vince, Sir Allan, Sir Dan, Sir Rojhie, and to all that has been part of the race. It was my pleasure working with you guys.

Ride report by Neozeke