Challenging Honda Thai Talent Cup Season Opener Motivates Abadilla and Galang

Filipino riders Kenzo Abadilla and Nathan Galang braved the first round of the Idemitsu Honda Thai Talent Cup held at the Thailand Circuit, Nakhonchaisri on May 17 and 18. Despite struggling with track and bike familiarity, the two Honda Pilipinas Dream Cup (HPDC) 2024 standouts vowed to come back stronger and show improvement in the coming rounds.

Abadilla, the 2024 HPDC champion, placed 17th out of 23 riders while Race 2 saw him ending up at P19. He expressed, “New bike, new track. Not the best start of the season. I had a hard time with the bike and the bumpy track but I’ll train harder to become stronger!”

Kenzo Abadilla

2024 HPDC third overall Galang shared, “First time to ride in this track and also the NSF250R bike is very powerful. I struggled a lot during the day 1 especially in my riding style. I need more track time. The track is also very bumpy, but in the end, we improved. I want to thank Honda Philippines, Inc. for this huge opportunity!” Galang was P18 in Race 1 and P20 in Race 2.

John Nathan Galang

Round 2 of the 2025 Honda Thai Talent Cup is on June 20-22 June at the Chang International Circuit. Organized by Honda Racing Thailand which operates under Thai Honda Co., Ltd., the series is dedicated to develop Thai and Asian riders to be at the world stage hence, its “Road to MotoGP” objective. It has been upgraded by HRC to be a standard competition and is one of the programs that young riders in Asia must participate before stepping up to Asia Talent Cup (ATC) or European Talent Cup (ETC). This 2025, 13 young Thai racers and 10 young racers from 5 Asian countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and the Philippines are participating in the competition.

Abadilla and Galang during the 2024 Honda Pilipinas Dream Cup

Abadilla and Galang have shown skills, discipline and passion in the 2024 HPDC on the Honda CBR150R and are now conquering the international racing scene. The HPDC is a race series organized by Honda Philippines helping young Filipino riders reach their racing dreams. Just like in 2024, the HPDC runs together with the MotoIR Championship rounds at the Tarlac Circuit Hill.

photos from Honda Thai Talent Cup, Kenzo Abadilla and Nathan Galang