Young rider Ezra Samson showed great promise right on his first race in the 2024 Petron Pirelli National Motorcycle Racing Championship at the Batangas Racing Circuit recently.

Testing the waters of the thrilling field of motorcycle racing, the 14-year-old Samson lived up to the name of his team, Zero2Podium of coach Joey Rivero, when he landed at the third place of the lightweight 300 junior class in the second round of the Pirelli Cup after just learning how to ride a bike a few months back.

Samson finished behind teammate and fellow young rider Asia Milan, who claimed second place, and first placer Mark Mangulabnan, who is a cousin of renowned Filipino racer Marvin.

Being pitted against fellow racers of all ages and sizes, Samson admitted feeling nervous at the start of the race and had to shake off some rookie jitters in the first round when he only finished fourth.

The young rider finally got his groove and strutted his wares in the second round.

“At first parang nane-nervous ako kasi obviously first time ko pero after few laps parang naging okay na ako. Nagkaroon na ako ng confidence,” said Samson who only started riding a bike last January.

Samson is set for more races in the next five months with the second leg of the National Motorcycle Racing Championship set on June 1-2 still in Batangas before the third leg fires off on July 6-7 at the Clark International Speedway.

More than the early success in Samson’s budding racing career, his mom, Michelle, is more so proud to see his son’s dedication in training while also maintaining a good standing in school.

“Nakita ko si Ezra ang dami niya natutunan yung discipline, yung athletic side and yung discipline ng pagiging athlete yun yung for me na isa pang advantage,” said Michelle.

“Ang iniisip kasi namin sa kanya mabalance niya yung school okay pa rin naman maganda pa rin nman yung standings nya sa school,” she added noting that Samson would actually spend holidays in school on the race track to add to his once a week training schedule.