HOLIDAY INN RESORT, CLARK FIELD
February 07, 2004 (9am to 7pm)

To strengthen the Camaraderie among the small and big Bike Clubs of Luzon

My day started at 4am when Andrew and I got woke up and prepared to leave my place in Parañaque. As we left a very light drizzle had started which after weeks of dry weather was just enough to lift the oil and grease to the surface of the road and make it very slippery. We left at 5am to meet up with LERAP and others at Camp Crame. There was not much traffic but it was dark and slippery plus I had rain on the windshield and my visor so we rode carefully. As we came off SLEX at the C5 exit we were suddenly plunged into darkness as the street lights suddenly ended. I could see the toll booth ahead and knew that between me and that booth there were lane separators but they were completely invisible in the sudden blackout. I braked and the front wheel skidded to one side. I immediately released the brake, the bike righted itself and I braked again stopping just a few inches short of a cone. Not a good start to the day.

We arrived at Camp Crame and the rain was on and off for a while. Once we got moving the rain got heavier so the oil was washed away and the roads were a lot less slippery. Arriving at the Shell gas station on SLEX I was surprised to see there were maybe 300 bikes all on their way to Pampanga. A lot more than I expected considering the continued pouring rain. Fortunately as we got near the north end of NLEX the rain stopped and we were on dry roads for the rest of the day. My beautifully polished bike was now very dirty so I would not bother with joining any show competitions.

When the announcement of the Pampanga Bike Meet was made, most people were not expecting a very large event and the organizers were an unknown quantity for many of us. As it turned out, everyone was pleasantly surprised. The event area was packed with bikes in every direction with over 1,200 bikes registered and probably quite a lot more who did not register.

After registration the first event was the motorcade. I was riding with LERAP who were about midway in the line so everywhere the motorcade went there were bikes as far as I could see in front and behind. As soon as all bikes returned, the competitions, and shows got under way and around noon the lunches were served. I don’t know who prepared it but 1,200 fried chicken lunches were served and they looked good. I needed some air conditioning so I went into the Holiday Inn for lunch.

I tried to get the list of clubs that attended and the winners of all the events but did not succeed in time for this report. The list of clubs was read out over the PA a few times and it was a very long list. If anyone has the list or more competition results please email them to me so I can add them later.

The competitions that took place were Mr & Ms Biker, Early Birds, The Club with the most attending members, Furthest bike club from origin, Slow Ride (turtle ride), Hotdog Eating contest, Beer Drinking contest, Tire Burning Show (optional) and the Big Bike Show.

The results I do have are :

Over All Best Sport Bike 2000 to present
Ducati 999-R Fila owned by Vic Valbuena
Over All Best Sport Bike 1990 - 1999
Ducati 916-SPS Senna owned by Love-Love
Over All Best Standard Bike
Ducati Monster 800 Corse owned by Joy Alberto
Over All Best Dual Sport Bike
Ducati Multistrada owned by Inigo Bilbao
Mr. Biker - Inigo Bilbao
Miss Biker - Love-Love

Ducati obviously took virtually all the prizes in these categories. No real suprise there.

While many riders including myself stayed overnight most riders left after the competitions etc. This is quite normal as only a very small percentage of riders stay overnight at events. Most can get Saturday off or Sunday off but not both.

Since we returned I have heard many people say it was more and better than expected. Club A, and the Jet Riders supported by the LMFI have well and truly proved themselves. Next year you should book your accomodation early because the next Pampanga Bike Meet is going to be big!

View the pictures here.