{"id":328592,"date":"2020-08-25T06:06:49","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T20:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=328592"},"modified":"2020-08-25T06:06:49","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T20:06:49","slug":"mra-welcomes-cruz-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/mra-welcomes-cruz-back\/","title":{"rendered":"MRA welcomes Cruz back"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ellery Cruz poses for a photo before last Sunday\u2019s race in Marpi. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A screen grab from Marianas Racing Association\u2019s practice races in Marpi shows riders getting ready to head out the course. At far right is Ellery Cruz, who had his first race in 13 years. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marianas Racing Association welcomed a familiar race on the dirt track as Ellery Cruz joined the group\u2019s regular practice races last Sunday in Marpi.<\/p>\n

Cruz, one of the CNMI\u2019s top riders before, participated in the Man Aguguat division of last weekend\u2019s ride, going up against Shane Alvarez, Patrick Togawa, Kier Agda, Ko Santos, and Thomas Reyes. He finished third behind Alvarez and Togawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be back. It\u2019s my first race in 13 years,\u201d said Cruz, who competed for the CNMI from 2004 to 2007 before stepping away from the racetrack and later going off-island for work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see people I race with before and the family I grew up with, as they try to revive motocross on the islands,\u201d added Cruz, who rode his old, but reliable 2006 Yamaha YZ250F.<\/p>\n

Ellery Cruz\u2019s photo was included on the souvenir program for one of the local races on Saipan in the early 2000s. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite last Sunday\u2019s race being his first in more than a decade, Cruz proved he still has the form and skills that allowed him to represent the CNMI in international events in Guam, Macau, Indonesia, and the Philippines, including the Asian 125CC Senior Motocross Championship Series in 2006.<\/p>\n

Mari Alvarez, an MRA member who used to watch Cruz race with her son, Shane, commended the returning rider and called his group the \u201cFast & the Furious\u201d guys, adding that they still got it even after over a decade of not joining competitive races.<\/p>\n

Cruz managed to perform well in MRA\u2019s temporary race course (the area surrounding the former Kan Pacific Swimming Pool), but admits missing CNMI motocross\u2019 home\u2014the Cowtown Raceway, further down Marpi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course is very appropriate for beginners so they can learn cornering, body positioning, and other basic movement and skills in motocross. The Cowtown Raceway was more technical and would require experience because you could maneuver around it well,\u201d said Cruz, who first tried motocross when he was 15 years old and was influenced by his father, Eric, a race organizer.<\/p>\n

Ellery Cruz poses for a photo before last Sunday\u2019s race in Marpi. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cruz hopes to join more races under the revived MRA and encouraged people interested in the sport to come forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are ready to go, there will be people who will help you learn your ways at the track. We are family,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThrough the years, motocross has helped me stay connected to people I grew up with and have shared many fun and exciting memories on and off the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, besides the Man Aguaguat division, MRA\u2019s races last weekend also had the Man\u2019Amko category. Steven Sablan topped the race and was followed by Melvin Cepeda, Glenn Pangelinan, Charles Cepeda, Patrick Cabrera, and Hanky Camacho.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marianas Racing Association welcomed a familiar race on the dirt track as Ellery Cruz joined…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":328602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4883],"class_list":["post-328592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}