Suzuki’s comeback to the National Motorcycle Championships this 2018 concluded with a series of winning performances giving the Japanese giant 2 championship titles under its belt. Team Suzuki Racing had just returned to the country’s circuit racing scene after more than half a decade of pause. It was during the late Maico Buncio’s time when Suzuki last participated in these kinds of races locally and just this year, Suzuki made it big with a back-to-back championship win.
The fastest Lady Rider – Jacq Buncio of the Suzuki-Wheeltek Racing Team capped the season with a historical win with her Suzuki GSX-R1000R taking home the Rookie of the Year title topping the first ever Rookie Category of the Philippine Superbikes (PSBK) National Championships with 308.5 points. Following her were BJ Ang with 168 points and Poncholo Panlilio with 158 points. Running with her Novice, Intermediate, Expert and Masters’ contenders, she was also able to finish at the top five overall which underscored her potential as a rider.
Jacq also raced at the Pirelli Cup Heavyweight A Category wherein she emerged as the 1st runner up after having an intense and head on battle with strong competitor Pocholo Panlilio. Jacq finished with 208 points with Panlilio gathering 233 points on the lead and Rod Valdez on third with 127 points.
The Suzuki-VMan Racing Team also made an excellent debut this season at the MotoIR Championships with young riders Djereck Ondillio and Dan Carlo Alvarado sweeping a 1-2 overall finish with 113 and 106 points respectively followed by John Paul Suba with 100 points at the Beginner’s Class.
Meanwhile, veteran riders April King Mascardo and Eane Jaye Sobretodo sealed the finale on 3rd (82 points) and 5th places (53 points) respectively. They were all riding the Suzuki GSX-R150.
It was a very positive year for Team Suzuki Racing and a comeback result this great underscored that in spite of a pause for awhile, Team Suzuki is still a strong force to be reckoned with in the world of racing.