Watanabe nails 2nd straight Pirelli Superbikes plum

MANILA, Philippines - Dashi Watanabe of Aprilia Grandstar dominated the final leg of the six-stage Pirelli Superbikes Championship Series to formalize his claim on the back-to-back championship at Clark International Speedway in Clark, Pampanga recently.

Winning all but one of the six races this year, Watanabe wrapped up his campaign with 147 points, beating Raniel Resuello of Team Ducati Phl, who wound up with 128 points while another Aprilia rider Anthony Roman finished third with 114 points.

Watanabe has actually wrapped up the crown after topping the last race at the Batangas Racing Circuit but the Fil-Japanese still opted to flaunt his best in Clark as his way of expressing his thanks to his fans and supporters.

The event served as part of the 2014 Motorsports Championship Season presented by Petronas, sanctioned by the Superbikes Racing Association (SBRA) and sponsored by Petronas, and media partners Racing Beat@Wave 89.1, Inside Motoring@dzRJ810khz and Motorsiklo Xklusibo@dzME 1530.

Resuello stuck close with Watanabe throughout the race until he found an opening to wrest the front seat in the second to the last turn.

But Watanabe refused to give up, regaining his post in time at the last turn heading to the finish line to capture the checquered flag just 0.549 of a second ahead of Resuello.

Jussi Hoikka of Team Ducati Philippines ruled the Intermediate class over Tracy Soyangco and TJ Alberto but Rizaldy Canare still took the Superbike Intermediate crown despite finishing only fifth. Canare ended up with a total of 135 points, beating Hoikka by three.

Soyangco claimed the Superbike Novice title over Lawrence Macalinao of Team Ducati Philippines, who actually topped the final race, while Jericho Arnaiz and TJ Alberto wound up third and fourth, respectively.

John Defensor emerged the overall Superbike Master champion, defeating Ducati teammates Toti Alberto and Charles Nolasco.

Jevis Aguila copped the premiere Open Heavyweight crown over Lawrence Macalinao and TJ Alberto in the equally exciting 2014 Pirelli Superbikes Cup conceptualized as a junior league for promising future Superbikes riders.

Clarke Robertson bagged the Class A Heavyweight title over JC Villanueva and Dax Ayson while Myke Torres emerged the Class B Heavyweight champion over Mike David and Kyle Reyes. Other winners in the 2014 Pirelli Motorad Superbikes Cup include Marvin Caspe in the Class C Heavyweight, Jericho Arnaiz in the Class A Middleweight, Jay Razon in the Class B Middleweight, Amarijit Sanghera in the Class A Lightweight, and Rod Valdez in the Class B Lightweight,