After two grueling days of navigating the mountains around Mt. Pinatubo, John Mascarinas, Arjay Santos Salamatin, and Jan Arvie Soriano of Wheeltek ADVenduro emerged as the first-ever champions of the CFMOTO MT Challenge Philippine Qualifiers. This hard-fought win earns them the honor of representing the Philippines at the MT Challenge World Championship in Australia later this year.

At the MT Challenge World Championship in Australia, the team will ride the 800MT-X, facing off against representatives from Europe, South America, Asia, and the formidable teams from Australia and New Zealand.

“We were not able to practice a lot as a team before the [MT Challenge] because we’ve barely beaten the registration deadline. It was luck and good thing we were regularly riding our enduro bikes [individually], we think that helped a lot,” said Wheeltek ADVenduro team captain, John Mascarinas.

As for preparing for the upcoming world challenge—a significant step up from the Philippines’ current standing in the world of off-road competition—the Wheeltek ADVenduro team confessed they’re still reveling in their victory. But, they’re very excited to get acquainted with the 800MT-X and plan to do so by riding it through the most demanding enduro terrains they can find.

Beyond the all-expense-paid trip to Australia courtesy of CFMOTO Philippines, the Wheeltek ADVenduro trio was also awarded three brand-new CFLITE 230 Dual motorcycles.

“The MT Challenge was definitely a milestone for CFMOTO Philippines because it was also our first event competition, wherein we ourselves were the organizers. So, we really wanted to give our participants an experience that was different and exciting, while still being in line with the objective which was finding the best adventure riders in the Philippines. We think we achieved that — John Mascarinas, Arvie Soriano and Ar Jay Salamatin are very talented riders and we’re excited about our next steps in preparation for the MT Finals in a few months,” said CFMOTO Philippines boss, Camille Lu, who was very hands on during the preparation and execution of the MT Challenge Philippine Qualifiers.

WWR TNR EAP, featuring Mico Marges, Jojo Paguio, and Michael Trajano, clinched second place. The third spot was secured by Enduro Factory, a team consisting of Poy “Poy Tarres” Samia, Aldrin Amar, and Bench Gregorio. A total of nine three-person teams competed in this inaugural event, which was successfully organized with the help of FJMOTO Enduro, Pinatubo Trail Riders Association of the Philippines (PITRAP), and Trifecta Brand Lab.