Shell series to feature young karters

Young talented karters will be the main focus this time as the 2002 Shell Karting Super Series stages its third leg on April 20-21 at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Michelle Bumgarner of M&M Racing and Mica Anton of Edgesport are expected to be the darlings of the crowd as they’ll try to show girl power anew in this event sponsored by Pilipinas Shell, Casino Filipino, Bridgestone, ZED, Nokia and Coca-Cola Bottlers.

Bumgarner and Anton drew big support from spectators as they checked in first and second in the ZED KT Juniors over male rivals Mark Bumgarner, first leg winner Mateo Guidecelli and 2001 Cadet 60 champion Ken Monzones.

In the other kids divisions, Brandon Angel looks forward to another win against Michael Apacible and Emil Cuyugan in the ZED Cadet 60 division while Mark Bumgarner hopes to prevail anew in the ZED Cadet 85 over Mateo Guidecelli, Marlon Stockinger, Leonardo Boihara and Buffy Laurel.

"These kids are the future of karting. And at a very young age, they have been showing competitive skills and who knows, one of them will make it big in the international racing scene," said Carmona Circuit Philippines project director Lot Tan.

On the veteran side, defending champion Pepon Marave of Futura Racing will be gunning for his third win in a row in the premiere Formula-A class.

Marave, gunning for a historic third Karter of the Year plum expects tougher challenge from equally talented GP-Kart Plaza karters Jinky Cabilinan and Manny Sy, Cebuano Jess Garcia, Mario Cunanan and Tuason Racing Project’s Mike Tuason — the first Filipino Asian Karting champion.