Tubod, Lanao del Norte – The thousands of spectators who came to witness the Araw ng Lanao del Norte International Motocross Invitationals were ecstatic to see top American freestyle riders perform their death-defying jumps and stunts in the world-class racetrack of Mindanao Civic Center (MCC), in the capital town of Tubod .

Joining the group of elite motocross racers from the American Motocross Association (AMA) were extreme sports riders Jesse Jolson and Andy Morgan.

“We’re pretty excited to show the people what we can do with our bikes. We’ll do our best to entertain the crowd”, Jolson said.

The more than four thousand locals and visitors were able to see first-hand the stunts they would only see over televised coverage of ESPN’s X-Games.

Among the different dangerous tricks executed by the riders during the Motorsports Weekend held last June 24 to 26, 2011 were can-cans, heelclickers, no-footer, nac-nacs and superman seat grab.

“In the world of Freestyle Motocross, no one can beat the Americans and today we just saw why they are considered the best”, expressed Race Director Bobby Orbe.

The three-day event also pitted the best Filipino riders like Glenn Aguilar and Donark Yuzon against the top riders of AMA.

In the Pro-Open, Glenn Aguilar again proved that he is still the man to beat among the Filipino riders by dominating both heats in this category.

However, the international riders were too fast for the locals and got the top spots in the International Pro-Open category.  Last year’s champion Tiger Lacey successfully defended his title while Daniel Blair and Dennis Staple grabbed the second and third place respectively. Filipino top gun Glenn Aguilar managed to grab the fourth spot in this category despite fierce competition from Bornok Mangosong, Jonjon Adlawan and AMA riders Jake Locks and Kyle Lewis.

Another highlight of the Motorsports Weekend was the Enersel Mountain Bike Challenge which was won by Alfritz Gascon for the cross country open elite category.

The crowd was also thrilled to see some race action from the All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV) that showed that these races can also be equally exciting to watch over the more popular motocross heats. Rex Barbaso was declared the winner in the ATV Open category.

“Every year the motocross event here keeps getting bigger and bigger and we also see new races being added in the motorsports weekend, these only prove that Lanao del Norte is indeed the Motocross Capital of the Philippines”, Information Officer Lyndon Calica expressed.

The provincial government headed by Governor Khalid Dimaporo will again host the final leg of SEL-J Sports’ 2011 Enersel Forte World Motocross Series this coming December in the sprawling MCC Sports Complex. VNL/PIO-LDN