REDDING, California -- Six races in to her Outlaw Kart season at Cycleland Speedway in Chico, Calif., 15-year-old Alissa Geving sits in sixth place in the championship points standings and has been very competitive in looking for that first win of the season driving for the Melo Gordon Motorsports team.
While her focus week-to-week is training, preparing and practicing to get that first win and contend for the title, she has also dedicated herself to helping a family friend who has been stricken with Colon Cancer. Earlier this month, Geving decided to donate her winnings from the Cycleland season to the American Cancer Society in support of Roy Moss, a friend of her parents, Gary and Melissa Geving.
Soon after she made that commitment, one of her sponsors, JME Microsoft decided to join in and match her donation. Since then, other Melo Gordon Motorsports partners have joined in, including QRC Karts, Fire Dawg Disaster Assistance, J&L Electric and Melo Gordon Motorsports team owners Marty and Dana Melo. Each week at the track, the team hangs a banner to help promote her effort and encourage race fans to lend their support with a donation.
This all started after Geving was unable to join Roy’s wife, Tija, and some other family and friends at a “Relay for Life” walk event to raise money for the American Cancer Society because she was competing at Cycleland. Since she couldn’t join them, she came up with the “Race for Life” idea to lend her support this way.
“I have always been devoted to helping others. It gives me a great feeling when I know that the things I do can benefit others in need,” said Geving of Penngrove, Calif. “The ‘Race for Life’ with the American Cancer Society really gives me a chance to dedicate myself, and I am very passionate about this fundraiser.”
Geving, a top student at Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., has garnered three top five finishes in six events and has qualified seventh or higher in every event. Her efforts to date have resulted in $1,000 being raised in her “Race for Life” campaign in less than a month.
“My goals are to raise as much money as I can for this campaign, so I need to be consistently finishing near the top each week” said Geving, driver of the No. 3x QRC Karts/A1A Muffler/Crystal Geyser Outlaw Kart. “As I continue to develop my racing career, I am committed to making sure I can help others along the way.”
In her first season of touring Outlaw Karts, Geving was named “Driver of the Year” in the 2005-06 QRC All Star Tour, finishing seventh in the points. She’s been competing since she was 12 years old and comes from a racing family. Her grandfather, Leroy Geving, was a four-time champion racing hard tops and was inducted into the BCRA Hall of Fame in 1997. Her father Gary raced sprint cars from 1986-2001, winning four championships.
Geving and her teammate Mason Moore, who is leading the Cycleland points standings, return to action this Saturday night at the Chico-based dirt track.
Her Melo Gordon Motorsports team is sponsored by A1A Performance Muffler, JME, Microsoft.com, Xbox, Crystal Geyser, QRC Karts, Rossi Autobody, Hot Boddies Tanning Salon, Impact/Fensler Racing Inc., Cycle Pro Racing, ALC Racing Engines, Slicart Custom Apparel, Care-Free Custom Graphics, Rollag Painting and 21st Century Health Club.
For more information on Melo Gordon Motorsports, visit the team’s website at www.melogordonmotorsports.com. For more information on the American Cancer Society Relay for Life walk events, visit www.acsevents.org/relay.
