Meanwhile, back at the track.

MANILA, Philippines - The first and last time I ever got close to “biker” culture was 1971 or thereabouts. There was so much talk about motorcycle races around the Quezon Memorial Circle – and to top it all, Robert Redford’s movie was about to be shown “at a theater near you”.

That movie was called “Little Fauss and Big Halsey” where Robert Redford played his first kontrabida role as Big Halsey, a womanizing, opportunistic “bike racer”. Walking in his shadow was Little Fauss played by Michael J. Pollard, a nerdy bike tuner who always dreamed of winning a race.

You have to imagine yourself coming from the Quezon Memorial Circle watching motorcycle races that included tandem riding on “tricycles” as well as hearing the sound and thunder of Harleys, Triumphs, BMWs and Indians.

It was a good day, I remember. There I was, about to watch Robert Redford do some real racing. Suddenly, I heard what could only be described as an ominous sound from hell. Worse than a jet liner parking at the cinema, it was the mythical “Sagitsit Motorcycle Gang”.

You could have heard a pin drop as they walked in like gun-slinging cowboys. The real “bikers” had arrived. Then the movie started…

Fast-forward 40 years. I find myself watching a motorcycle race not in a movie house but in real life. One could say we were the equivalent of “imbedded journalists”, sitting side by side with members of the Team Suzuki Pilipinas, the official and only representative of the Philippines to International motorcycle racing events.

On this trip, we are at the Madras Motor Race Track in southeastern India where they are staging Round 3 of the Petronas Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC).

Unlike racetracks in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, the Madras track qualifies as being in the middle of nowhere. Unless you ride with local organizers, chances are you’d miss it because it’s off the main highway hidden by parked trucks and container vans.

It did not take long for us to realize that if you come to Madras, you come to race and not to go sight seeing or shopping.

Everything is at least an hour and a half away, not counting the traffic that easily doubles your travel time. If you get to do as much “on the road” time as we did, you would do well to prepare yourself for two hours of constant honking of horns. I kid you not. After Madras; Metro Manila was eerily “quiet” by comparison.

Indicative of it’s remote location, we learned that there were no standard “hotels” but just two “resorts” which were now fully booked because of the ARRC.

Once you enter the track area, things change and you are welcomed by a series of motorcycle billboards and promotional banners. The organizers are quite clear about how things are to be done. And if you happen to forget your identification tags and passes, you can forget about watching the race up close.

To their credit, the Petronas crew was very efficient in providing all the necessary information, amenities and communications for members of the media. The media center remained the coolest place on the rack despite it being crowded from time to time during post race interviews.

The four-day event featured racers representing various motorcycle manufacturers as well as nationalities. The most competitive on this leg of the race were the Thailanders, the Indonesians, Malaysians followed by a couple of Japanese, Australian and a number of riders from India.

Team Suzuki Pilipinas stayed in the middle of the fight by fielding an experienced rider in the Supersports 600 CC division and a young Filipino rider for the 115CC Under Bone category.

We now have a Japanese rider Yusuke Teshima representing Suzuki PH on the 600 CC bike, while the newcomer to international competition John Lery Enriquez continues to struggle through the learning curve of this highly competitive event running in the 115-underbone event.

While Teshima reached the top ten of the 600cc group, Filipino driver Enriquez was hounded by technical difficulties resulting from track conditions.

Listening in on the team analysis, we quickly learned that the “dry” heat at the Madras track was far more punishing than the “humid” tracks of Indonesia and Malaysia. Not only did the riders begin to suffer after three rounds on the track, even their engines ran hot and ran under stress with on-track temperatures rising into the 50s.

Aside from searing temperatures, a major challenge to the riders was the lack of available information on the Madras Circuit and driving conditions. Practically all the teams struggled for several days tuning their suspension systems because the track was a continuing stretch of bumps and uneven surface – almost like Ortigas Avenue.

In spite of advanced race preparations, most of the competing teams spent days replacing suspensions and carburetors while others dealt with tires and tire pressures and retuning their bikes.

To confirm this, I went around the various pits to check out the tires on competing bikes and saw how their tires looked liked someone had put a blow torch to them after just one race!

Without a doubt, Team Suzuki Pilipinas learned a great deal about the need for pre-race research on track conditions and moving logistics because the Madras Circuit was so remotely located that bringing in parts even from local subsidiaries was quite time consuming.

On the other hand, Team Suzuki Pilipinas is clearly benefitting from the technical prowess and inputs of Yoshimura, as well as their multi-racial crew working on their 600CC Super Bike and their 115 CC Under Bone racer.

Once the races were over, the media soon came over with hard questions about race results and the future of a team still in search of the next Maico Buncio. Rather than deflect the queries, the team readily recognized that it is all part of the learning process for new teams going into international competitions. They are fully aware of the fact that a “novice team ” goes through a one-year learning process on the average.

For a team that is six months old and has gone through trauma and tragedy after losing its top rider in a fatal race related-accident back home, Team Suzuki Pilipinas has done unusually well as their rider in the 600cc group already entered in the top ten at the Madras races.

Team Suzuki Pilipinas has put in the time and has sacrificed more than any of the teams they have competed against in the ARRC. That has earned them the respect of every team from every nation – all of which have acknowledged their loss as well as their fortitude. Mabuhay Team Suzuki Pilipinas! You make us proud!