Zark’s revs up for D-League Aspirants Cup

After winning just a one game in its debut campaign in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup last season, Zark’s Burgers management is pulling out all the stops for a bounce-back campaign with the Jawbreakers looking hungrier than ever in the Aspirants Cup starting January 18.

“Now, we want to associate our brand with winning. It’s time to win,” said Zark’s Burgers team owner Commie Varona, wasting no little time in setting out the Jawbreakers’ ultimate goal on their second stint in the developmental league.

Varona knows success cannot be achieved overnight, clearly aware that he needs all the right mix and combination to create the winning recipe.

Varona feels he has just put himself — and the Jawbreakers as well — on the right path by hooking up with veteran team manager Bernard Yang as the team representative whom he believes “has that winning mentality.”

Yang, 44, certainly has concrete proof to back it up. He served as the team manager when Hapee Toothpaste and Fash Liquid bagged backto-back titles in the defunct Philippine Basketball League in 2003 and 2004.

Then he was also in charge when the Fresh Fighters made their return to the amateur cage scene in 2015 and marked that in all too familiar winning moment by capturing the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup crown, with former pro league great Ronnie Magsanoc calling the shots.

—JEROME LAGUNZAD