Drueco rallies to beat fancied karters

Edgesport-Castrol’s Arvin Drueco posted a rousing come-from-behind victory in the Intercon-A class recently in the fourth leg of the 2002 Shell Karting Super Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Drueco, a 16-year-old Mapua mechanical engineering student backed up by Castrol and Kart Plaza, finished second in the first two heats. On the final race, he started second but was overtaken by his rivals and dropped to sixth place at the first turn from the main straight.

He slowly inched his way up, passing one driver after another including back-to-back winner Jeremy Marquez and third leg winner Dado Peña until he wrested second place on the eighth lap.

Ryan Francisco was way ahead but Drueco tried to catch up as he jacked up with a 43.680 on the 12th lap. His efforts proved worthy as he overtook Francisco on the second to the last turn of the final lap.

"I started second at the start but slipped to sixth on the first turn because my tires slipped. But I stayed focused on my driving and managed to overtake other drivers one at a time as their engines and tires started to overheat," said Drueco.