{"id":389975,"date":"2023-04-21T06:01:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T20:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=389975"},"modified":"2023-04-21T06:01:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T20:01:30","slug":"cuki-confident-of-mras-chances-in-smokin-wheels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/cuki-confident-of-mras-chances-in-smokin-wheels\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuki confident of MRA\u2019s chances in Smokin\u2019 Wheels"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Marianas Racing Association riders and their families pose with Gov. Arnold I. Palacios as they await their flight to Guam at the Francisco C. Ada\/Saipan International Airport last Wednesday. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Marianas Racing Association hopes to build on their success in last year\u2019s Turkey Cross when they compete in the 40th Smokin\u2019 Wheels set to start today, April 21, until Sunday, April 23, at the Guam International Raceway.
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\nMRA vice president Cuki Alvarez likes Saipan riders\u2019 chances in the three-day race against competitors from host Guam, the Philippines, Japan, and even the mainland U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have chances to bring home the gold in all divisions. However, Guam has been training just as hard if not harder to represent home court, so we are super stoked and looking forward to the challenge in this awesome goodwill competition!\u201d said the patriarch of Trench Tech Racing.<\/p>\n

Alvarez will see action in the Enduro Class along with his son, Shane Alvarez, and other Saipan riders Dave Celis, Melvin Cepeda, Corry Pangelinan, Aric Cruz, Ellery Cruz, and Christian Camacho.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Saipan team is very excited and have waited many years to race back on Guam! Team Saipan did great in last November\u2019s Turkey Cross and have been keeping busy racing in January, February, and March. So we are as prepared as we can be going into this weekend\u2019s race. On Saturday, we will be racing the infield track aka \u2018Supercross\u2019 and on Sunday, it will be the infield course combined with the buggy course, which goes all the way back into the hills for the two-hour endurance race. Saturday\u2019s races will be an individual race, where racers compete for top placings and Sunday will be a team format and racers can have a partner for the two-hour race. This will be a test of men and their machines and the team who completes the most laps in two hours wins,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A total of 28 MRA riders will compete in Guam and they are the following, with their classes in parenthesis: Henry Camacho Sr. (ATV Open); Byron Castro (Novice); Nanako Celis (School Girl); Charles Cepeda (Veterans and Legends); Matthew Guerrero (School Boy); Anella Igitol (Mini ATV); Maribel Igitol (Women Sr.); Billie Inabo Pangelinan (Women Jr.); Marissa Rasa (Women Sr.); Ponce Rasa (Novice); Frankie Sablan (School Boy); Julian Salalila (Veterans); Jonoah Santos (65cc); Joseph Santos (Intermediate); Keenon Togawa (Mini ATV); Patrick Togawa (Expert Open); Nakoa Torres (Mini ATV 50cc); Ethan Yumul (School Boy); Francesca Yumul (Mini ATZ 90cc); and Ray Yumul (Veterans).<\/p>\n

In addition to motorbikes and ATVs, MRA also entered the drag race competition with two entries this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ray Yumul, who is the secretary of Public Works, expects to experience a higher level of racing again and to have fun competing in Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the CNMI can embrace off-road and motocross racing as another sport and recreational activity. Perhaps we may be able to attract off-island racers to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Corry Pangelinan, meanwhile, admitted he\u2019s a bit nervous, considering this weekend\u2019s event is his first ever off-island motocross.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that I can adapt to the new track fast because we won\u2019t have much time to practice. I believe we have two days then we will be racing. My sister and I will do our best to represent the CNMI and our team, Errico Racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

His sister, Billie, just hopes to have a solid performance in Guam, podium finish or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have much expectations for when I race in Guam, although I really hope I\u2019m able to have a great performance. I will be putting in some time to practice and prepare for race day and will also try my very best to adapt to a new track. This will be my first time going off-island for an international race, and also trying out a new track. I\u2019ll have to quickly adapt to the new surroundings.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Marianas Racing Association hopes to build on their success in last year\u2019s Turkey Cross…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":389943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4883,11012],"class_list":["post-389975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mra","tag-smokin-wheels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389975","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}