01/12/2025
Race Report:
Pirelli Petron MoRac National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2025 Round 7 (Final Round)
PSS Philippine Super Sports Novice Category
Clark International Speedway
QTT1: DNS
QTT2: DNS
QTT3: DNS
RACE: P4
Season Result: P3 Overall/2nd Runner-up
Engine build: moto garage by Flores
Dyno tune: performance by Francis Dalinoc
Back-up tune: michaeljohn marquez
Mechanics: Lloyd Miguel Arellano Perez and Ronnel M Opena
Thank you to everyone who became a part of this racing season:
Barberos Barbershop
Detailz
Koby Motor Care Philippines
Leimera Lithium Battery
Somjin Philippines Voss Somjin
A. Mirasol Arts
The Most Challenging Race of My Career
This race weekend was, without a doubt, the most grueling chapter of my racing journey.
We wrapped up the engine build last Wednesday, planning to break it in on Thursday and get it dyno-tuned by Friday, just in time for race weekend. But a sudden change in the race format caught us off guard. Instead of a relaxed Friday, we were now required to attend practice sessions to prepare for three qualifying rounds on Saturday.
That’s when the chaos began.
Heavy traffic on the expressway delayed us, and we missed our dyno schedule. Thankfully, Dalinoc of Overport Performance came through, staying up late, and passing out due to carbon monoxide just to help us get the bike tuned. But during Friday’s session, the bike felt off. It revved cleanly, but there was a noticeable power drop coner exits and high RPM—likely due to the Stage 2 cams. We made the call to revert to stock cams, shimmed the head late into the night, loaded Michaeljohn Marquez’s tune, and finally got the bike running.
Saturday morning, the bike felt alive. Power was back, and I was getting solid exit speeds. I tested it on Clark’s long stretches, but I overlooked one critical detail: the higher compression setup needed more fuel. The AFR was too lean, and by lap two, the engine blew.
We had spare blocks, pistons, and heads, so we dove into a full rebuild. But both spare heads had valve pocket leaks. We missed the second qualifying session, and to make things worse, the skies opened up. Heavy rain poured down, making repairs even harder. At that point, I realized even if we made it to QTT3, the wet track would’ve killed our lap times. I made the call: we’d start from the back of the grid on race day.
We scouted for a nearby machine shop, and Machine Shop stepped up big time—staying open past hours and even lending us tools to speed up the shimming process. We camped out at Petron Clark, rebuilding the engine through the night. By 1 a.m., the bike fired up—but the idle was terrible. A quick check revealed a cracked intake manifold. We scoured nearby towns for steel epoxy, and the best we could find was a tube from 7-Eleven. It wasn’t ideal, but it had to do.
We refused to sleep until the bike was race-ready. That decision paid off. We found out the race had been moved up to 11:20 a.m. instead of 3 p.m.—if we had waited, we would’ve missed it.
The bike ran, but power was still lacking, especially at low and high RPMs. The spark plug burn showed a lean mix, so I loaded an old 2023 map from the same tuner—the one that gave me a solid lap time at Batangas with a similar build. It felt better on a quick spin, so we sealed the gas tank and prepped for the race.
Then, another curveball: the clutch felt loose. A check revealed the cable had only one strand left. With just 15 minutes before race start, I sprinted around the paddock looking for a replacement. Ian Rabino Samson came through, offering the clutch cable from his Sniper race bike. It was a bit short, but better than risking a snap on lap one. We custom-fitted it, but the release point was high and stiff. No time to perfect it—it was race time.
Despite all odds, we fought hard. Starting from the back, I clawed my way up and crossed the line in P4. We could’ve pushed for P2, but the backup setup just didn’t have the power. Valencia’s blocking was masterful—I tried everything, pushing every corner to make up for our power deficit. On the final lap, I saw a window and went for it. The bike nearly low-sided, but I managed to save it and finish P4.
This weekend was full of setbacks. But when you’re down that bad, there’s only one direction left, to go up. We might fail, but we never give up. We fight with whatever we’ve got.
Massive respect to my competitors for making this season unforgettable. See you at the next season.
