June 12 : Buncio - Philippines Grabs 2007 Petronas Asian GP Attention

Maico Buncio # 129 of Team Philipines has proven the Filipino riding talent can excel in international motorcycle road race competitions once again. In the past Glen Aguilar of teh Philippines has succeeded to bag the Asian Motocross Championships and has shown that our Filipino NAMSSA national series and sanctioned events can elevate the Philipines to the top spot in international competitions.
 

For the Round 1 of the Petronas Sprinta FIM Asian Grand Prix, the Philipines fielded a team of Maico Buncio on board a Yamaha 115cc supported by Aryas Racing ( former Asian GP Champion Team of 2006 ) Evalube oil lubricants Indonesia, Yamha Indonesia, Norkis Yamaha, U Mild, YRS and NAMSSA. The planning stage for this event took us from the start of the 2007 NAMSSA road race commission ( composed of the motorcycle manufacturers ) in order to field a country representative for the event. What our aim was to only field an entry in order to represent the country . But we were all surprised by the front row 3rd fastest time grid position that Maico took !

During the testing practice of the machines they worked hard on their Yamaha 115cc in order to test different compression ratings and gear ratios, having limited times sessions for practice of only 2 / 30 minutes sessions and then immediately to 2 qualifying sessions. On day 1 they blew an engine , because the compression power was too high for the long Sentul straights and 35 degree weather. In the afternoon qualifying 1 Philippine Team posted top ten in the grid and surely was not enough. New mapping for the adjustable CDI was placed new tires and higher riskier compression ratios was tested for qualifying practice and session for day 2.

Team mate of Maico U Mild Aryas Racing Asian Champion of 2006 Gilang . was having compression problems and testing other mapping of electronics on his machine too, and exchanging set up between the teams riders. A good working relationships was in place. Topping the times were Yonk Jaya Yamaha team another UM Mild entry sharing other pit are with them , but no information exchange !

On day 2 first morning session practice they blew a piston and had to re calculate compression settings . By the afternoon qualifying session was up and we could not test one more gear ratio set up. And the gamble was on. During the qualifying strategy was to go out and test new sprockets and come back after 5 laps to change to another ratio. When Gilang top rider cam in the pit stop the compression needed to be changed and when the crew stripped the head, the cylinder head bolt broke sending all 8 mechanics busy trying to solve the problem. Maico was then signaled to continue in the track and not pit in due to busy pit area on Gilangs bike. Suddenly the pit monitor showed him in overall 5th spot, signal men now were focused on him and continued timing for qualifying , then went down to 2:04.98 which grabbed us third spot in the Starting grid ! well done they called him off already to save the set up and prepare bike for race day.

On warm up session on race day early morning , they went our for practice new tires fresh piston ready to fight, by doing 5 laps they wondered machine and time was not performing as good as 3rd on grid. Upon further inspection they saw the piston head was chipped thus decrease of power was imminent. It was replaced for a fresh one maybe the 6 the piston to use. On the front row of the grid , Maico and the most number of 3 umbrella girls as the top foreigner in the starting grid ! well done Philipines, this achievement alone was already a success for the trip of the team

Start of the race 1 , good start into the first corner, taking note Maico is one of the heaviest participants compared to heir other light counterparts although in turn 2 there were 10 riders abreast fighting for the turn together with rubbing elbows and paint swapping, Maico playing it defensively slipped down to 11th in the grid . Still pushing he sensed that he couldn't catch up tot he main pack of leaders. He pushed it farther and crashed in turn 4 of the lap 8 of the 10 lap race. Upon further inspection of the engine post Race 1 again the piston has chipped due to too much heat of the lean mixture for more power that was placed. We had to richen the mixture for the Race 2.

Race 2 again started with Maico on Front row, now with live television telecast in Indonesia, again the Philipines was limelighted to the event as the top foreigner in the front row. Race started good but Maico started to fade back in the long stretches as the machine was fading, finishing in the 12 with very slow times. Upon post race inspection it was seen that the fairing of the machine was damaged in the initial crash on Race 1 and blocking the air intake of carb as the bracket fell off during the race 2.

Never the less, all teams congratulated Maico in which they said they were surprised that a foreigner was able to break the front row in his first time in Sentul circuit. Farther negotiations are now ongoing for the Round 2 of the series again for Sentul to be held on July 5-8. 2007. the Philipines Federation also meanwhile shall include in its agenda in the next NAMSSA road race commission the further fielding of more riders to support the Petronas Sprinta FIM Asian Grand Prix

The Team wishes to thank its supporters for the success of their trip namely , Evalube , YRS , NAMSSA , U mild, Star Motorsports Indonesia, Petronas Sprinta and Two Wheels Motor Racing. For more info check out www.namssa.org and www.arrc.com.my