Benitez wraps up title in not-so-perfect year

Javi Benitez of Jet Racing struggled through the season but mustered enough points to capture his back-to-back Junior Karter of the Year plum recently at the culmination of the 2008 Shell Helix Karting Super Series at the Carmona Racing Circuit.

The 14-year-old Benitez, a first year high school student of Xavier School, had the title in the bag after his big win after the Boomland leg in Pasay City.

Although he didn’t win in the last four legs, he managed to preserve his grip of the lead and wrap up his campaign with a total of 476 points to also capture the overall ROK Junior title and the ROK Junior Expert crown.

It wasn’t really a dominating year for Benitez, who’s backed up by Bingo Bonanza Corp., Henry Sy Jr. of SM companies, Willy Ocier of Pacific Online Systems Corporation, Industria and Belle Corporation. Studies had been his priority as a high school freshman and his TV show left him with just little time to prepare and practice for the race.

“It wasn’t really an impressive season for the team. One thing, I’m more focused on my studies being a freshman and that leaves me with just little time for practice,” explained Benitez.

He won only twice, the first at the Batangas Racing Circuit, but his runner-up finish in the seventh leg proved crucial in virtually claiming the ROK Junior Expert and the overall ROK Junior titles .

“It wasn’t a dominating year but it ended as a big success. We were able to achieve our goal and I’m happy that we were able to capture our second Junior Karter of the Year award,” he said.

It has been his last year in the junior division as Benitez will be moving up in the ROK Senior and the Formula 125 Open Senior classes next season.

He had made some trial runs in these divisions and quickly adapted to his new and more powerful engine, thus making him the karter to watch next year. Moreover, he’s planning to compete in prestigious international races in 2009.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a better performance next season,” he said.

 as we look forward to another “Karter of the Year award”. I’d like to thank my parents for their unconditional support, the crew and the mechanics for doing a great job on the kart, my sponsors and of course, our coach Elson Carpio,” he added.