Bumgarners top RP bets in Asian kart

Asian Karting Queen Michele Bumgarner and brother Mark hope to spearhead the country’s bid in the forthcoming Asian Karting Open Championship following their stints in the 2006 CIK-FIA ICA World Cup Asia Pacific Championship recently at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan.

It will be the first local race for the Bumgarner siblings, backed up by Petron, Oakley, Gold’s Gym, Salon Prive, Powerade, Accel, Department of Tourism, Solar Sports, JonesBarlowParrish Group and City Kart Racing, after several months of racing and training in Italy.

They’re hoping their Suzuka stint will be a big boost to their bid for the premiere Formula 125 plum in the event set June 9-11 when they go up against the best from Thailand, Malaysia, Macau, Singapore, Hongkong and powerhouse Indonesia.

They’ll head back to Italy the following week for Round 4 of the Italian Masters Open at one of the toughest kart tracks in the world, Sarno.

The Bumgarners created quite an impression in the CIK-FIA Asia Pacific Championship especially Mark, dishing out impressive runs against more experienced rivals from Italy, Great Britain, Australia and host Japan in the said event.

 "It was a good learning experience and we’ve proven that we have great chances in such a major prestigious world event if not for the misfortunes that happened to us during the race," said Michele, who’s been preparing to defend her Asian crown with the Philippines in mind against the tough Asian Zone entries.