Pastrana at the Latin American Supercross Championships

Supercross fans in San Jose, Costa Rica, were given a special treat at the Latin American Supercross Championships held in the Saprissa football stadium over the weekend. Besides the return of Latin American 2007 SX1 Champ Alex Viquez and SX2 Champ Roberto Castro was the appearance of Travis Pastrana. His Puerto Rican heritage apparently resonated with the Puerto Rican Motoclub, who issued him a license, which was then accepted by the ULM (sanctioning body for Latin American Championships). Wearing his “Salute to Evel Knievel” jersey and riding a stock RMZ 450, Travis (a late arrival) was granted two practice laps before lining up for the first SX 1 heat race. After the gate dropped, Travis quickly moved into second and for a time looked like he was maybe taking the deal a bit lightly, performing heel-clickers and nac-nacs all around the Dirt Wurx-designed and built track. But on the last lap he put a wicked outside pass on Erick Vallejo and took the heat win and flat out ran away with the hearts of the fans. He was literally mobbed everywhere he went for the rest of the night!
 
Probably more a testament to the track and Travis’s conditioning, Puerto Rico had to settle for a third-place in the SX1 final behind winner Roberto Castro (Costa Rica) and second-place Erick Vallejo (Mexico). Castro has been contesting the Monster Energy AMA East Region Lites races but has yet to qualify. Looked to us like he’s right at home on a big bore!
 
Costa Rican Alex Viquez scored an easy win in the SX2 class over second-place Sivian Zandoni (Brazil) and Rene Reyes (Mexico). Adrian Robert, called “Maestro”  (teacher)  by Ernesto Fonseca and a legend in Latin America, also saddled up for the SX2 class and at age 42 showed the kids the old man still has it by finishing fourth in the final. Ernesto himself was busy all night providing color commentary for television audiences.
 
Travis stayed late into the night, having his picture taken with hundreds of fans and signing autographs. He will be staying in Costa Rica for a while, reportedly filming a segment for a future edition of his Nitro Circus series. Maybe as part of the filming, at half-time Travis and his posse staged a tag-team-two-on-a bike SX race!