Pagcor Sports overall winner in Asian karting

The Philippines emerged overall champion as the Pagcor Sports-RP Karting Team captured five of the 11 titles at stake, six overall runners-up and four third places recently at the culmination of the 2008 Macau International Kart Grand Prix - 50th race of the Asian Karting Open Championship Series at the Kartodromo De Coloane Circuit in Macau.

Joey Orduna of Ready2Race, AUTS skipper Indy Villalon and Jet Racing’s RG Romero put on the finishing touches for the Philippines as they joined Juha Turalba and Christian Gaddi in this year’s roster of Filipino champions in the prestigious Asian event with the big support of Pagcor Sports and RP Motorsports godfather Johnny Tan.

Orduna, 13, wound up third behind older and more experienced European champions Raphael Aguiar of Switzerland and runner-up Martin Doubeck of Czech Republic in the race but amassed 142 points to clinch the Asian ROK Junior crown, with Jet Racing’s Renz Pazcoguin and Ready2Race teammate Roby Benito making it a 1-2-3 finish for the country.

Villalon bagged the Yamaha Cup Senior crown with 70 points while RG Romero of Jet Racing pulled off the big win in the final race to steer another 1-2-3 finish in the Yamaha Cup Junior crown together with runner-up Milo Rivera and third placer Brian del Val of Ready2Race.

Turalba wrapped up his title-clinching feat with a bang, pulling an impressive victory over China’s David Zhu and Zhang Da Sheng to seal a five-win sweep of the Asian ROK Senior plum - the highest honor achieved by the Philippines in the event.

Gaddi, who sealed the Asian Cadet 60 diadem with 160 points, nearly pulled a sweep in the Mini-ROK division but was disqualified in the final race due to technical inspection violation.

RP champ Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San Miguel Corporation-Marcelo Racing survived a big ordeal, staging a rousing rally in the pre-final and final race where he clocked 18 minutes and 22.819 seconds to win the Formula 125 Senior Open over Thailand’s Tin Sritrai and Nanin Indrapayong.

But finishing only fourth in the pre-finals, Marcelo only ended runner-up to Sritrai for the overall Asian Karting plum.

Vencer John Suba staged a big comeback in the karting scene with his impressive victory in the Yamaha Seniors Cup, and went on to share the overall runner-up finish with AUTS Racing’s Joseph Castelar toting 40 points apiece.

Gab Dacasin ruled the Cadet 60 race over Thai Veravich Wong Sang Anan and RP’s Jaztin Monzones to wind up overall Asian Cadet 60 finisher while Fil-Japanese Chiba Masataka prevailed in the Mini-ROK division over Japanese Kazuto Kotaka and Thai Sasakorn Chaimongkol.

Also claiming third place honors for the Philippines were Bobby Domingo (Yamaha Cup Seniors) and Franco Reyes (Formula 125 Junior Open).

Thailand bagged two crowns behind Sritrai in the Formula 125 Seniors Open and Sandy Stuvik in the Rotax Max Junior while Malaysia also ended with two behind Bryan Mehta in the Formula 125 Junior Open and Gary Mumford in the Rotax Max Veteran.

Japan and Hong Kong ended with one apiece.