A FAMILIAR name is making a comeback in the fast and furious world of superbikes’ racing.
Jacq Buncio, youngest sister of the late superbikes champion Maico, recently made history as the 1st female rider to win first place in the Pirelli Cup Superbike Championship against numerous 300(cc)s and 390(cc)s using her Yamaha R-3 at Clark International Speedway, Angeles Pampanga.
“After Maico’s death and (his brother) Barny’s retirement, we never thought we’d go back to racing again,” said Jacq’s mother Mylene Buncio. “We thought that the girls (Jacq and Des) would learn the family business so they can mind it later.”
But cliché as it may seem, racing is the Buncio family’s genes.
Patriarch Gregorio “Yoyong” Buncio was a winning motocross rider in his youth. His sons, Maico and Barny, were motorcycle racing champions until Maico died of crash-related injuries in May 2011, while Barny opted to retire and start a family. Now, Yoyong’s two daughters—Maria Lourdes (Des) and Jacquelyn (Jacq)—are tracing the championship steps of their father and brothers.
“Jacq was devastated, as we all were, when Maico succumbed to his injuries,” said Yoyong. “But she kept bugging me to teach her to ride. When Mylene and I finally permitted her to go racing, Jacq was overjoyed.”
The Buncios believe that racing has made their family whole again.
“With Jacq and Des out on the track, I still feel nervous like I did when Maico was racing,”confessed Mylene. “But watching and supporting my daughters’ races made our family whole again. We can feel Maico’s presence when we’re in a racing circuit and he’s watching over his sisters.”
Yoyong added: “I never thought that we’d be able to recover from Maico’s death. But racing became a sort of therapy for our family. And we feel that we are here back on the track for a purpose and that is to preach safety in racing. The need for speed is achieved on the race track and not on the streets. That is one of the philosophies that we are preaching, that’s why we are here.”
On the track, Jacq Buncio, the faster of the two female Buncios, made sure of living up to her family’s winning tradition.
Jacq won 1st place in the Pirelli Cup, Lightweight (A) Category during the 4th leg of the Superbike Championship and got 2nd Place in the UBK Championship, 115 Novice Category the same day, a feat made more special by the fact that she did it against male competition, against the current best Circuit Racers.
In the racing community, Des and Jacq are making a name for themselves but they did it on their own merits. Both have been consistently going up the leader board with Jacq getting more wins than her eldest sister.
These Mandaluyong-bred & O.B. Montessorians ladies are fun to watch on the track and, like their late bother Maico, always polite and pleasant to talk to.
And like Maico, they’re beginning to have their own fans, admirers and sponsors like; Top-1 Oil, MotoScoot, 4S1M for Jacq & including Kojiesan beauty products for both of them.
“I’m the faster sister,” Jacq would always tease Des.
“I’m the prettier one,” Des would retort.
It doesn’t matter, though now, which one is the faster or better-looking. What matters is that the Buncios are making sure Maico’s passing didn’t go for naught.
