Mel Aquino’s Flat Track Day for a Cause

Many of you may have come across the name Mel Aquino. Coach Mel as he is fondly called by some, is a known off-road motorcycle riding coach. If you get a chance to see coach Mel’s CV, you will notice that this guy has always been around motorcycles.

Lately you can catch Coach Mel conducting off-road riding courses which requires a totally different set of riding skills or occasionally doing stunt riding work for the lead character of a local police teleserye. In between teaching and shoots, you may likely catch him running a “flat track race”.

So what is a flat track race? If you’re not familiar with this format as much as circuit, drag and motocross, you can say that it's like a combo of oval and motocross racing. In fact, coach Mel said flat track racing is a good introduction to motocross racing. Basically, it's going around an oval off-road track.

This extreme sport started in the US in the 1920s and has evolved since. In the Philippines, we see a number of this race format being done as it requires less space and is less dangerous than motocross without the climbs and jumps. Rider skill is also not as demanding as motocross. Think drifting on two wheels on a dirt track oval. Sounds fun right?

The November 26 edition of the Flat Track race is extra special being a charity race. Part of the proceeds of the race will be donated to the Tahanang Walang Hagdanan foundation for our brothers and sisters on wheelchairs. The fact that you are able to help out already makes you a winner. If you missed out on this leg, there will be another one on December 17 at the MX Messiah Fairground, Taytay Rizal. There are numerous categories from kids, men's to women's. Underbone, 2-stroke, 4-stroke, pantra and open.Chances are whatever your bike is, it will likely qualify into a category. Registration fee is only P500.