Fernando, Lopez rule scooter, underbone series

MANILA, Philippines - Masato Fernando and Herbert Lopez stamped their supremacy in the third leg of the 2014 FDR Underbone King Championship Series and the 2014 FDR Philippine Scooter Racing Championship Series recently at the Clark International Speedway.

Fernando displayed near-flawless riding throughout to emerge the 180cc champion of the scooter series while Lopez pulled ahead early and kept his pace all the way to capture the premier 150cc Open crown of the underbone event.

The twin events are part of the 2014 motorsports championship season presented by Petronas, sanctioned by the Underbone and Scooters Racing Association (USRA) and supported by media partners Racing Beat @ Wave 89.1, Inside Motoring @ DZRJ810khz and Motorsiklo Xklusibo @ DZME 1530.

It was a tight three-way fight at the start with Fernando, a former Underbone king, closely followed by James Barcial and second leg winner Paul Mark Doblada in the early goings.

On the lap, Doblada caught up with Barcial to secure second place as the Fil-Japanese gained a slight distance in the ensuing laps  before taking a decisive maneuver to pull ahead and wrap up the 10-lap race in 11 minutes, 40.934 seconds or 1.961 seconds ahead of runner-up Doblada.

Barcial took third place with Romer Corbe and Mark Chua checking in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Sharing honors with Fernando in the scooter series  were Aljon Valencia who ruled the 160cc PSR class over Mark Indiongco and Jacob Navarro and Robert Espiritu who prevailed in the 130cc PSR over McKinley Kyle Paz and Justinne Tolentino.

Lopez likewise controlled the tempo coast-to-coast to clinch the premier  Underbone 150cc Open crown by 1.086 seconds over runner-up John Emerson Inguito and Romer Corbe.

Vrei-AR Suba copped the 115cc Open title over Gio Adriano and Edzen Zuniga while Aljon Valencia bagged the 115cc Novice plum over Aldeine Valencia and James Aeron Amporias.