{"id":394781,"date":"2023-06-28T06:02:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T20:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=394781"},"modified":"2023-06-28T06:02:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T20:02:09","slug":"pikaboo-nips-cuki-in-expert-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/pikaboo-nips-cuki-in-expert-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Pikaboo nips Cuki in Expert Class"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Shane \u201cPikaboo\u201d Alvarez, seen here in a file photo, won the Expert Class of the June 2023 Monster Energy Point Series Race last Sunday at the Cowtown Race Track.(LAO ZHANG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shane \u201cPikaboo\u201d Alvarez surprised family patriarch Justis \u201cCuki\u201d Alvarez in the last heat to win the Expert Class of the June 2023 Monster Energy Point Series Race last Sunday at the Cowtown Race Track.<\/p>\n

The younger Alvarez, who was involved in a minor accident more than a year ago, finished second to Cuki in the first heat, but came back with the vengeance in the more important second race of the day to take the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both father and son finished with 47 points, but as per Marianas Racing Association rules the winner of the second heat gets the victory lap in case of a tie. Ellery Cruz completed the Top 3 with 38 points.
\nShane, aboard his trusty 2023 KX250f, said racing against his father always ensures a tough but fun race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first heat was pretty grueling as I didn\u2019t ride for two months and I had to work my way up from fifth off the start. Got up to second by the third and fourth lap then my arms burned out half way and I almost got passed by Dave Celis who was in third place but I was able to hold him off. I felt warmed up and I fueled well for the second heat which did me good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shane said he and Ellery Cruz were actually \u201ctire to tire\u201d in the first turn off the start, but luckily he had the inside line and was able to secure the holeshot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there I tried my best to pull away from the pack and use the dusty condition to try and blast a dust cloud on every turn that may slow down the rest of the group. I knew my dad was going to catch up and when he does he really pressures you to make mistakes. Luckily I was hitting my lines and was able to hold him at a steady distance of about three seconds and after the 10th lap he started to give up on trying to catch me,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Despite the win, he admitted that his father is still the king of the road in the Expert Class.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting first on the second heat got me the overall but we are still tied on points for the day and he\u2019s still leading by a solid 18 points for the season. I\u2019m gonna try my best as always but my dad is still the man even at 52 [years old] and I can only beat him on a really good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the track, he said MRA groomed the jumps \u201cso they were smooth although the track was pretty rocky. It was also really dusty which is good for the person in front and bad for everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to thank his sponsors Trench Tech Racing, Cycles Plus Guam, and the whole MRA board \u201cfor another fun race in the books.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Intermediate Class, Corry Pangelinan had another perfect race by winning both heats for 50 points. Aric Cruz and Ethan Yumul finished second and third with 44 points and 38 points, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maribel Igitol, meanwhile, topped a two-woman race in the Mama\u2019s Class with 50 points followed by Merissa Rasa\u2019s 44 points.<\/p>\n

Results of the other classes in the June 2023 Monster Energy Point Series Race will be published in the next issues of Saipan Tribune<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shane \u201cPikaboo\u201d Alvarez surprised family patriarch Justis \u201cCuki\u201d Alvarez in the last heat to win…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":394759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394781","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=394781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}