THE Guam Motorcycle and Atv Corporation was back in action racing motocross as they held the first of the scheduled ten round Guam 2007 Moto-X Championship series this past Sunday at the Calvo Memorial Off-Road Park in the village of Yigo. Ideal conditions prevailed with cool breezes and sunny skies that made for a great day for the spectators and competitors alike to be outside enjoying the fast paced action of motocross racing. A longer extended course that had been added to this years program was a successful hit as competitors were now able to really open up the throttle and shift through the gears as they blasted down the new long sandy straights and were roosting in and out of the high banked sand turns in route of the high launching, man made, red dirt super-cross type jumps that make up the infield portion of the motocross course built inside of a quarter mile dirt-track oval. Several different classes made up of different genders, and ages of the competitors and with the different machines engine displacements competed in their respective class with a few of the youngest racers being not yet even 5 years of age racing on 50cc atv’s and the oldest being in their 50’s riding the bigger 250 and 450 machines. The event was free to come and watch for the entire family and many seemed to take advantage of the great weather to come watch the high flying side by side bar banging racing that makes up the sport of motocross on the island of Guam.
Year after year the rivalry of #5 Robert Santos who races for the team of RPM Yamaha aboard their Yfz-450 and #1 Robert Bucek the reigning Guam open atv champion who rides for the team of Cycles Plus aboard a Suzuki Ltr-450 seem to get into the type of heated battles on the track that can only be described as fierce, fast, and on the edge of disaster. This year appears to be no different as the two hooked up in a battle after the first half of the race and that had the crowds attention as they launched bar to bar over the jumps, through the turns and down the straights with neither giving up anything to the other lap after lap until the final lap when Bucek going into the whoop section next to but on the outside of Santos slammed the brakes mid way through the section and then opened it back up to dive under and past Santos in the tight right hand turn that followed after the whoops to take the lead through the string of doubles that followed. Santos who appeared to have been taken by surprise was unable to regroup allowing Bucek clear sailing to the checkers. Taking second was #99 Mark Schiavone (Suzuki Ltr-450) who raced a fast consistent pace to be in the hunt at the end. Santos held on to take third place this time around but looks to be determined to not allow anymore Bucek surprises to rattle him in the future.
The 50cc Atv class was all #1 Stoney Bucek as he took the Cycles Plus Kawasaki Kfx-50 to the checkers for first followed closely by #29 AJ Windham (Kaw) in second who had been closing in on Bucek’s lead towards the end of the 4 lap race.
Mini Mid Atv class was dominated by #1 Trevor Eustaquio aboard his Kawasaki Kfx-80 as he took first place with Honda rider #5 Blair Bates taking second and #11 Jose Simpson (Kaw) taking third in his very first race on the 80 since moving up from the 50cc class.
At the start of the Open Atv Women’s class #69 Taffy Wassom (Suzuki Ltr-450) took the start with the pack hard on her heels. Challenge after challenge for the first half of the race Wassom was able to fend off the attempts to pass her for the lead by #14 Kelly Simpson (Suzuki Ltr-450) and #2 Keara Bucek (Suzuki Ltr-450) until she seemed to have miss shifted allowing both Simpson and Bucek to get by. The two new leaders had an epic side by side battle until Simpson “Bam!!!” seemed to have kicked it, her speed, up a notch and pulled away to the win. Bucek took second with Wassom placing third.
The Guam Motorcycle and Atv Corporation will be back in action with round 2 of the Guam 2007 Moto-X Championships on Sunday January 28th with racing scheduled to begin at 1pm. The event will once again be free for the entire family to come and watch and to meet the riders. For more information on the Guam Moto-X Championships or about the Guam Motorcycle and Atv Corporation visit their website at www.AtvMotocrossGuam.com.