MRA awards top riders

The Marianas Racing Association put the thrills and chills of the tabletops and the whoops at the Cowtown Raceway in Marpi aside on Sunday to take time to recognize its top performers of 2005 at the Minatchom Atdao.

Among the youngest riders to receive their laurels was Mini-ATV maven Britney Camacho, who raced unopposed throughout the season. Peewee 50-80 rider Edina Cepeda took the tape in all races with the exception of the year’s first go round and the Motocross Championships in July when Devin Noissom got the checkered flag.

The Novice 60-65 class saw some of the closest competition in 2005, as Franklin Santos (239) edged second place finished Aaron Pangelinan (235) by four points, while Jacob Jones (225) and Jared Sablan (222) were right behind in third and fourth place, respectively.

Hanky Camacho was the best of the 80-85 Novice class with 433 points on the season to beat out runner-up Manny Flores (409). D.J. Camacho was the third place finisher with 344 points, and the class saw a total of seven riders earn enough point for promotion.

According to the MRA rules, racers earning more than 100 points in one season are eligible to advance from the novice ranks to the expert class, but that rule was enacted when there were only six races on the schedule. The MRA hosted nine races this season, so organizers may revisit the books soon.

Shane Alvarez is already in the Expert Class of the 80-85 division, but he racked up 238 points while running mostly unopposed from April through July.

Ton Alepuyo (353), Jesse Celis (284), and Manny Celis (158) each satisfied the point requirements as the top finishers in the Novice ATV division, and may join Chris Alepuyo (434) and Christian Camacho (232) in the Expert class in 2006.

Three two-wheelers in the 125-250 Novice class tipped the scales, but none were better than Glen Pangelinan who amassed 427 points to win the division. First-year participant Megan Cruz finished in second with 360 points debut in the class, while Dave Celis took third with 344 points.

The current class of experts were led by “Pretty Boy” Floyd Dela Cruz, whose 371 points were good enough to hold off “Roaming” Roman Tudela’s late season rally. Tudela took second place in the point race with 336 tallies while Ellery Cruz finished third with 309.

There was plenty of excitement among the sages of motocross as Melvin Cepeda bagged the 2005 Veteran’s class title with 416 points. Consistency was the key for Cepeda as he edged Steve “Weevo” Sablan (414) by two points. Had Sablan not traveled off-island to participate in an FIM event, the results would likely have been different.

Frank Ada Jr. was the third place finisher with 307 points, while Charles Cepeda took fourth with 227.