With their pair of Ducati Panigale V4 R and V4 S, Timothy Joseph “TJ” Alberto and Lawrence Macalinao took victory road with another 1-3 finish overall at Round 4 of the Philippine Superbike Championship (PSBK).

Access Plus Racing was able to give Alberto and Macalinao a good setup heading into qualifying on Aug. 5 to 6, 2023 at the Clark International Speedway.

Alberto stopped the clock at 1:49.630 to claim pole position, while his teammate set a new personal best of 1:54.632 to place him P4 on the grid and ahead of all the Expert Class riders.

Hot showdown

After a week of monsoon rains, the weather was back to normal come race day (Aug. 6) with track temperatures reaching a scorching 33 degrees Celsius.

Likewise, the action heated up as early as Race 1 with Alberto battling with Dashi Watanabe for the lead.

With such high temperatures, the 2-time PSBK champion had to manage the tires, brakes and engine carefully to ensure they make it to the finish at the end of 10 laps.

He eventually made a clean pass for the lead on lap 3 and began to pull away. Alberto then made a big push near the end to set a 1:49.425 lap to claim the fastest lap of the race.

Meanwhile, Macalinao ran into some issues with his #26 Panigale V4 S and had to start from the pit lane. But he immediately chased after his rivals to make up for lost ground, setting a new 1:53.865 personal lap record in the process.

Unfortunately, his charge to the top spot in the Expert Class was cut short when he slipped on the final lap and rejoined to take the chequered flag 3rd in his category.

Heat intensifies

Race 2 in the afternoon proved to be even tougher as the heat started to take a toll on both Access Plus Racing riders.

This caused Alberto to make a mistake as he ran wide and dropped behind Marvin Mangulabnan. It would take him several laps to eventually catch up and regain the lead before opening up a 5.666-second gap to secure his second win of the weekend.

After his misadventures in the morning, Macalinao made sure that he'd get to the finish line incident-free and bring home full points. He rode consistent, quick laps and was gifted not only with 1st Place in the Expert Class, but also 3rd Overall, sharing the podium with his teammate.

TJ Alberto's victory further extends his championship lead to 12 points in the Pro Class standings. Macalinao, on the other hand, maintains his top spot in the Expert Class, also with 12 points.

The final two events of the Philippine Superbike Championship (PSBK) will award 1.5x points starting Round 5, which is scheduled on Sept. 2 to 3, 2023 at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

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