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7TH YAMAHA ASEAN CUP Indonesia
Written by: Jong Uy
Photos by: Jong Uy
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd holds the 7th Yamaha Asean Cup in Sentul Indonesia over three days last November 27-29, 2009 at the Sentul International Karting Race way. The Yamaha Asean Cup race is an international one-make race launched in 2003 and competed on Yamaha 4-stroke sporty mopeds by riders who have qualified by winning National sanctioned races and compete for the title of No.1 in the ASEAN Region.
The 7th YAMAHA ASEAN CUP has a line up 36 riders from the four (4) participating countries such as Indonesia which is the host country, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines will be competing in the Expert and Novice Classes. The Race machines will be Yamaha’s flag ship 4-stroke moped T135 (Jupiter MX in the Indonesian market and SNIPER in the Philippine Market) for the expert class and the Regions popular 4-stroke model T110 (Jupiter-Z in the Indo market and CRYPTON-Z in the Philippine Market) for the Novice Class.
The YAMAHA Philippine Team is headed by Mr. Rodney Bersamina and Mr. Atsushi Suzuki and is consist of six riders with three riders for each category. The riders on the Novice class are Marvin Mangulabnan the 2009 Sonic Boom 110, 125 and Open Beginner Champion, Michael Angelo Mauricio 2009 SK 115 Modified champion rider of the year, John Castillo the 2009 Sonic Boom 110 and 125 beginner runner up. The Expert Class in headed by Maico Buncio the 2009 Expert Super Bike champion and 2009 UBK 130 open champion, Masato Fernando the 2009 UBK 150 Champion and Underbone King and the 2009 UBK 130 Champion and Jeffrey Chan the 2009 115SP 2nd runner up.
Upon the arrival of the teams at Sentul Int. Karting raceway the racers went on the track to do the walk thru and the team manager draw lots for the machine selection. The following day the team mechanics starts doing the necessary preparation on the bikes and making it ready for the afternoon practice. All riders have their time on the track and made some necessary changes on the motorcycles like gearing and tuning. The following day was qualifying day, there were two qualifying sessions both are scheduled in the afternoon, mechanics and riders are so busy doing the final tuning and gearing of their respective motorcycles. IN the qualifying practice one, Marvin Mangulabnan was ahead of his team mates in the Novice class clocking in 1:02.521, while both Mauricio and Castillo clocks in below 1:05 mark. Mangulabnan improves in the second session and was still ahead of his teammates clocks in at 1:01.976 and will start 15th on the 18 grid riders, while Mauricio and Castillo 16th and 18th respectively.
IN the Expert Class, Maico Buncio clocks in an impressive time of all the Filipino riders at 0:59.52 while Masato Fernando at 1:00.444 and Jeffrey Chan at 1:04.726. In the second session of the expert class, Buncio improves his time at 0:59.198 and Fernando at 0:59.924 and Chan at 1:01.777. Buncio will start 12th on the grid, Fernando and Chan will start 17 & 18th respectively.
It was an eventful raceday, in the Novice class Mangulabnan has a good start however he had trouble with his bike in the mid part of the race and has to return to the pit for repair, while Castillo and Mauricio crash and wasn’t able to finish race one. IN the Expert Class, Buncio also had a good start and pace, however he crash and failed to return back in the track due to bike problems that cause during the crash, Fernando also crash in the middle of turn no.5 and no.6 and Chan was the only rider to finish race one on 13th place and earned 3 points for the team. Race two was indeed an improvement for the team Yamaha Philippines as Mangulabnan finishes the race in 10th place and earned 6-points for the team while Mauricio finishes 12th place and earned 4-points for the team, Castillo however crashed in the second lap of race. In the Expert Class, two only riders for team Yamaha Philippines, Fernando wasn’t able to join the race due to an injury on his race-one crash. Buncio had a good start, however, due bike problems he was forced to return to the pit on lap-7, while Chan finishes the race at 14th place and has earned 4-points for the team.
The race was very well dominated by the Indonesians, not only because they are the host country of the 7th Yamaha Asean Cup, but it’s due to their experience in Racing, Moped racing in Indonesia started many years back and so is Malaysia and Thailand. Overall the race was not about winning, it was all about the experience and this is a good chance for the Filipinos to improve not only in the riding style but also in the discipline in racing which is one of the most difficult part of all, since that here in the Philippines racing is just for fun and hobby while in Indonesia and some other Asian countries Motorsports is already an industry and a way of living for some riders. As we all know, underbone or moped circuit racing is one of the fastest growing motorsports in our country today and definitely events like the Yamaha Asean Cup will somehow encourage riders to be more competitive and I believe that this is also Yamaha Philippines vision for the Filipinos to be competitive and further develop the motorcycle culture thru racing activities. And that is why Yamaha Philippines is embarking on a major motorsports activity next year and this will surely promote the grassroots racing and able to develop racers who can someday compete in the international races such as the Yamaha Asean Cup. For the Team Yamaha Philippines, winning is only a part of racing, what’s more important is the learning experience of racing in one of the most prestigious race and amongst the best riders in Asia.
