Guam revving for Smokin' Wheels 2013

by Dave Delgado

Guam - The 2013 Smokin' Wheels event kicks off next Friday April 12th with the Friday Night Drags. The event will also feature a car show, ATV and motocross racing with a bunch of other events lined up for that weekend to include the BBQ competition on Sunday, April 14.

Tom Akigami with the Guam Drifting Association said, "This year's 76 Circle K Smokin Wheels kicks off Friday April 12th and goes on throughout the weekend. Saturday being the motocross and off road endurance practices and the launch of the drifting and goes on into the night towards the drag strip with the car show by hafadaze.com called the Autofiesta. You don't want to miss out on the great drifting we have planned. We have 1 new driver coming out of Japan and he is a professional d-1 grand prix driver and he is bringing out his car and it's going to be something to see. Kenji Yamanaka will be back and he is that formula d driver that has been coming out the last couple of years and he will be piloting one of our cars. So you are going to see some world class drifting Saturday afternoon at the track. 4:00 pm it starts until 6:00 pm and right after that we head to the strip for the big car show."

With the help of some new sponsors like Ambyth and Schreyer's Shipping, the event has been able to grow with more off island participants. This year's Smokin Wheels is also made possible by 76 Circle K along with several other sponsors who have helped bring out all the kids to make the event successful over the years.

Henry Simpson with the Guam International Raceway said, "This year is really going to be a great endurance race. We have John Walker who won 2 years ago, he wasn't able to compete last year because he was off island but he's geared up and ready to go for this year. Mr. Hanawa who won last year is up and his car is fast and ready to go. He has a 4 wheel drive and he is up against a lot of the other 2 wheel drives and we are all competing for the overall championship. But there is a separation, 2 different classes. One a 2 wheel drive and 1 a 4 wheel drive but everyone wants the overall so Joey Crisostomo and I are going to drive and I hope we will be competitive with Mr. Walker and Mr. Hanawa. It's going to be a really good race."