Jaime Barcial: “Pinoy Rossi”

Last year, Iconic motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi finally retired after 26 years of racing in the World Championships.

The final few races saw many tributes given to him by the fans, sponsors and organizers. No doubt the most memorable was special “ Grazie Vale” colors that his team rider sported in all 3 classes during his final race in Valencia.

We at IR Nation also did our own special tribute bike. With the help of MotoIR3 and Dudshop Racing Design, we replicated the “Grazie Vale” colors in a MotoIR3 Kayo MiniGP to be unveiled during our last racing event of 2021, the Motul Super Series on November 21.

And there could not be a more fitting rider to ride it than our very own IRGP legend Jaime Barcial, considered to be our very own Pinoy Valentino Rossi. As a tribute to Barcial, he raced the “Grazie Vale” bike in the Motul MotoIR3 MiniGP Championships.

Rossi has had a great impact on the career of “Chief” Jaime Barcial. He was first coined by IR magazine as the Philippines’ Rossi way back in 1999. The young Rossi was not yet globally popular and the races are not yet televised in the Philippines, and so far has only one 125cc world Championship, but we saw that Barcial had the same dominant talent in local scooter racing scene as VR46 then.

Barcial read our story and researched who Rossi was and has since proudly carried Vale’s iconic number and helmet designs in his almost two decades of racing in the Philippines and Asia, winning many races, championships and IRGPs.

It is only fitting that we again see this iconic number and local racing legend again in action at Carmona. He rode brilliantly and you could not tell that Barcial has long retired from road racing. Most fans know his two sons James and Sean who followed his road racing footsteps. With more time and setup fine-tuning, we are sure that Barcial can be up there fighting at the front. JB46 now rides enduros and competes in motocross and has added MX victory to his impressive resume.

We thank Jaime Barcial for riding again in a circuit race to help us pay tribute to the iconic rider whose image helped us grow the sport here in the Philippines.

Grazie Jaime!

– by Al Camba

This was published in InsideRACING Magazine Volume 19 Number 10 issue

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