Cebu’s Guidicelli rules Asian Karting’s final leg

LANGKAWI, MALAYSIA — The Philippines‚ Matteo Fernan Guidicelli of Team Cebu-CRG raised the country’s flag up high when he bagged the third and final leg of the 2003 Asian Karting Open Championships at the Langkawi Circuit here.

The 13-year-old Guidicelli, born of a Cebuana mother and an Italian expat, struggled in the qualifying heats but unveiled a big comeback in the pre-final and final race—passing one driver after another to rule the Junior International Continental A class.

Guidicelli, who also copped the same title in the Manila leg last October, also emerged the only Filipino to win two out of three races in this series sanctioned by the CIK/FIA and could have won the overall crown had he not missed the first leg last August in Indonesia.

Unlike most of the drivers who tagged along European mechanics, Guidicelli relied only on chief mechanic Atty. Jed Neri and assistant Victor Suba who did a good job tuning up his kart.

The other Filipinos who also bagged overall trophies in this series are Tim Gosnel of Birel-A3 Motorsports, Lee Bumgarner of M&M Racing and Marlon Stockinger of Birel-A3 Motorsports who made it 1-2-3 in the Senior Rotax Max 125; Paco Rodriguez of Team Cebu-CRG who finished third in the Cadet 85 class; and JP Carino of Intelco Racing who also ended third in the Formula Rotax 125.

Guidicelli actually suffered a series of misfortunes in last Saturday‚s qualifying heats. He started eighth on the grid in first heat and wound up third behind RP National champion Michelle Bumgarner and Indonesia top bet Armaan.

In the second heat, he started third in the formation lap when a spark plug problem forced him out of the race. In the final heat, he started last and was about to move up to the No. 4 spot when he spun out while trying to overtake Malaysia‚s Syafiq. But Sunday turned out to blessed one for Guidicelli. Starting last again, he overtook two drivers on the first lap and surge his way up to the pole ˆ bucking the challenge of Armaan in the final three laps.

In the final race, Guidicelli raced confidently, holding on to the pole throughout the 22-lap race to win the crown.

Bumgarner bagged second place for the Philippines while Jazeman Firham of Malaysia settled for third.