Alexander wins Smokin' crown: Son of Baja racing legend wins in enduro event

In the final day of the 2008 Shell V-Power Smokin' Wheels Racing Weekend held at the Jose and Herminia Calvo Memorial Off-Road park in Yigo, history was made as Alexander Smith captured the 3-hour off-road buggy endurance race championship.
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Smith did what his father, Malcolm Smith, a Baja racing legend and former Smokin' Wheels champion did two decades ago. That was win the coveted race and do it in stunning fashion. The heavy favorite to win the race was defending champion Ikuo Hanawa from Japan.

Right from the start of the race, both Alexander Smith and Hanawa got off to a good start. However the Japanese racer jumped to a big lead with his more powerful Geolander race buggy.

In the ninth lap, Hanawa showed why he was the defending champion as he flew by all the other racers with ease. Alexander Smith kept a sizable distance to maintain second place. Hanawa brought the crowd to their feet when he soared jumps at amazing speeds.
Bad news

Bad news struck the defending champion in the 32nd lap. Hanawa was passing the starting line when a loud boom was heard all over the park. The front axle for Hanawa's prized buggy snapped and caused the Japanese racer to pull to the side. Alexander Smith saw an opening and took the laed as he flew by Hanawa which caused the crowd to cheer enthusiastically.

Hanawa was then hauled off the track and never returned to defend his title. Alexander Smith now was the man to beat, and used precision steering and course-awareness to get ahead of the pack.

In 57th minute and in the 36th lap Alexander Smith was cruising through turns and jumps, then all of a sudden he had to pull into his pit area.

Alexander Smith' power steering went out, however his pit crew patched everything up and the young racer was back in the race.

Two hours into the race, Alexander Smith dodged Japan's Masazaku Amauchi and Guam's own Bill Windham. Amauchi and Windham had their own battle for second place as both racers were neck and neck at times.

In the final minutes of the race, Alexander Smith broke away from Amauchi and Windham as he slammed the accelerator and cranked up the throttle to gain good distance from his opponents.

Alexander Smith, seconds away from winning what his father won so many years ago, soared over the finish line with the crowd applauding his hard-earned victory.

Smith then returned the favor and thanked the crowd as he dazzled them with 360 donut spins just several feet away from the finish line. Alexander Smith finished in first with a total of 99 laps completed. Coming in second was Amauchi with 96 laps and in third was Windham who completed 95 laps in a tremendous effort.

"I feel good right now, it is a great feeling. When I first arrived on island, I was worried that I was not going to win and the trip would be for nothing. I have to thank Henry Simpson for all his help," Alexander Smith said.

"Hanawa was really fast, but when I noticed that he was slowly starting to slow down, I told to myself that I had a chance. When his truck went down and I passed him, my state of mind mellowed out and I thought to myself that I can win this thing," Alexander Smith said.

Alexander Smith went onto to say that he was happy that he got to experience what his father did before. "I always wanted to live up to his legacy and today I did just that. I want to thank Henry (Simpson) and his pit crew for all their help. Thanks to all the fans that supported me and thanks to them for coming out and enjoying a great racing event".

Alexander Smith said afterwards "I will be back next year to defend my title".
Other race results

# ATV Endurance race: The team of Seiya Sakuma and Hideki Kishi of Japan took first place with 72 laps and a time of 2:02:49. In second place was Hiromasa Kitada and Hiroshi Kobayashi with 70 laps and a time of 2:04:18.

# ATV Endurance Mid-range race:Yoko Moriwaki and Sachi Tamura of Japan took first with 55 laps and 2:03:32. Coming in second was Japan's other duo of Masumi Toji and Kosuke Yamada with 55 laps and a time of 2:04:36.

# Open A and B race: Atsuhiko Nakiri who went solo took first place with 63 laps and a time of 2:04:08. Placing second was Guam's own duo of Tony Costa and Donovan Pitter with 56 laps and a time of 2:03:47. Costa and Pitter had a faster time but because Nakiri completed more laps, the Japanese rider was awarded the first place standing.

# Rock Crawling: In the 36 inch tire and below class, John Guerrero took first place and Chris Davis took second. In the 42 inch tire and below class, Chris Salas took first place. Finally in the Open class, Joey "JQ" Quichocho took first place, while Chris Brub took second. Rounding out the top three was John Walker.

source: guampdn