Christian Camacho, center, with Greg Clack, left, and Henry Camacho hold their trophies in the ATV Class during the 2023 MRA Monster Energy Points Race Series awards ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Saipan World Resort Taga Hall.
CHRISTIAN Camacho successfully defended his title after coming out on top of the ATV Class of the 2023 Marianas Racing Association Monster Energy Points Race Series with a total of 100 points. He and the season’s other top riders received their awards on Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Saipan World Resort Taga Hall.
Although Camacho faced two other competitors who raced only in the last two rounds, he still gave his best in every heat to garner a total of 100 points and claim the coveted red plate.
“It’s always a good feeling to come back on top defending your title,” he said. “The competition was great. Aside from my dad, we got a new ATV rider, Greg, which made it more interesting on the track.”
For Camacho, the toughest challenge was not on the dirt track. “I would say getting out of shape physically and lacking practice. But [I joined the series] because I wanted a better balance between family time and hobby time,” he added.
In second place was Greg Clark with a total of 86 points followed by Christian’s father, Henry Camacho, with 82 points.
This year, Christian also participated in the Novice Class where he finished second overall with 250 points. Vicente Palacios came in first with a total of 294 points while Matthew Guerrero came in third with 201 points. Frankie Sablan was fourth with 194 points; Ponce Rasa was fifth with 185 points; and Charles Cepeda was sixth with 163 points.
When asked why he participated in the Novice Class this year, Christian said when he was still a child, his father would put him on a 1980s Honda XR80 — it was his very first time to be on a dirt bike.
“I was probably between 8 and 10 years old at the time. I was small for the bike so I couldn’t even reach the ground. The only thing I knew was steering and throttle. I literally had to run out of gas so the bike could come to a stop and I could tip the bike to its side. Remembering that and the fact that my dad used to race on two wheels made me want to try it out. It’s a lot of fun but different for sure compared to being on four wheels,” Christian said.
“I cannot be more grateful to defend my title and also be able to place on two-wheels despite being my first full season on it,” he added.
“First and foremost, I would like to thank the Lord above for always keeping me safe. I would like to thank my beautiful wife and kids, who are my number one supporters. My parents helped me out and continued to push me throughout my racing. And my brother, who loaned me his dirt bike, that I have yet to return,” Christian said, smiling.
