OZR Cup 2008 3rd Leg Expert Open Results

In his Element
By: Arnel B. Santos-Ynigo

In the expert open Arnell Fajardo turned up the heat making a strong start onboard his highly tuned Yamaha X1R. He quickly pulled away from the pack with Seth Capuras and Bobby Mencias hot on his tail. Meanwhile Andrei Ursal and Zandro Fajardo were battling for the 4th position. Arnell Fajarado capitalized the brief moment of sunshine which dried-up majority of the track unleashing the full power of his bike making the gap bigger from the chasing pack. He would go on holding the lead position until the middle rounds wherein the rain started to fall. As the rain grew stronger Bobby Mencias was beginning to catch-up overtaking Seth Capuras at 2nd. Then on the 14th lap he was right on Arnel Fajardo's tail, he would go on to put pressure attacking relentlessly on all fronts until Arnell Fajardo crashed in the 5th turn by that time the whole track was drenched, this gave Bobby Mencias the lead. Andrei Ursal and Seth Capuras were in engaged in a furious battle for 2nd position, but Andrei's Raider proved to powerful for Seth and knocks him off position during the straights. In a brilliant display of skill and power Bobby Mencias started dominating once again creating the gap bigger from the rest of the pack. It seems as if the more the rain fell the more he enjoyed it, he certainly was in his element. He was the fastest rider exiting the turns which has claimed a lot of riders throughout the day. His motocross experience was a big factor showing mastery riding on a very slippery surface, this secured him a very comfortable lead from the trailing pack. On the other hand it created a lot of problems for the other riders Andrei Ursal crashed hard giving the 2nd position to Zandro Fajardo who has been consistent throughout the race and Seth in 3rd. During the final four laps Arnell Fajardo crashes hard and fails to get up, he was quickly carried off on a stretcher. Bobby Mencias goes on to win the race with a flying wheelie as he took the checkered flag much to the delight of the crowd as they cheered wildly on his winning lap.



The Blitzkrieg giving a show to the crowd