Gaddi bags Cadet 60 crown in Asian karting

Young promising karter Christian Gaddi of JeT Racing bagged the Cadet 60 crown recently in the 2006 Asian Karting Open Championship at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Gaddi, a seven-year-old Grade One student of Claret School in Quezon City, outclassed veteran rivals to rule the 12-lap race in 10 minutes and 19.455 seconds or just 0.267 seconds ahead of Cebu Racing Group’s Tonyo Carcel.

He also posted the fastest laptime of 55.291 seconds in the qualifying time trials, which eventually remained unbroken in the Cadet 60 class throughout the event.

"It was my first win and I’m proud I made it here in the Asian Karting Open Championship," said Gaddi, who’s backed by AJ Braga of Mega Exchange. "The mechanics and crew did a good job on my kart and all I had to do was just focus on my race."

He actually started competitive karting only this year. His mentor Jevis Aguila saw his potentials and really egged his father Justin Gaddi to get him into the sport.

"Christian made a remarkable improvement since he started racing last March, and it was clearly seen how he defended the pole against Carcel during the pre-final and final race," said JeT Racing head coach Elson Carpio.

Gaddi ended dead-last among nine karters in the third qualifying heat after figuring in a collision. But that didn’t let his spirit down. Starting second on the grid in the pre-final heat, Gaddi quickly grabbed the pole from Birel driver Jaco Reyes on the third lap and held on to his post all the way to the finish line to claim the top grid position in the finals.

Carcel proved to be a big challenge on the final race as he diced for the lead several times. But Gaddi would quickly regain the top spot and gained a comfortable lead against Carcel going into the last five laps of the race.