Foreign riders grab spotlight in KF2-KF3 opener

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino karters made a flying start behind Bobby Domingo of AUTS Racing and Roby Benito of Ready2Race but the foreign challenge grabbed the spotlight in Race 2 of the 2009 Pagcor Sports KF2-KF3 Series recently at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Domingo drew the first blood as he narrowly escaped against Japanese Tsubasa Takahasi of Kuwayama Racing to claim victory in Round 1 of the KF2 class.

A surprise twist came when then leading Koki Hoshino suddenly slowed down just halfway into the finish line and Domingo surged ahead for the win in 13 minutes,46.075 seconds, 0.763 second ahead of Takashi who took runner-up honors in 13:46.838.

Reigning Junior Karter of the Year Javi Benitez of Jet Racing checked in third (13:51.820) while Juha Turalba of Ready2Race and Joseph Castelar of AUTS Racing ended fourth and fifth, respectively.

Benito controlled the tempo throughout to win the first KF3 race in 10:08.901 over Indonesian stalwart Senna Sulaiman Noor (10:09.105).

Andres Calma, backed up by San Miguel Corporation, took third place while Jet Racing’s Franco Reyes and AUTS Racing’s John Castelar wound up fourth and fifth, respectively.

However, it seemed that the foreign karters were then just testing the waters as they showed off their true colors in Round 2 where Japanese Daiki Sasaki and Indonesian Senna Noor ruled the KF2 and KF3 races, respectively.

The Japanese karters showed great teamwork and smooth timely dives as Sasaki quickly grabbed the lead at the start and pulled away with the fastest laptime of 42.956 to keep his post throughout the 20-lap race and win the KF2 race in 14:14.595.

Sasaki was a far 8.296 seconds ahead of Maranello-San Miguel-Marcelo Racing’s John Alvarez who gave a strong defensive fight against two other Japanese drivers Reo Takahashi and Koki Hoshino who closely followed at third and fourth, respectively.

The event is sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by Pagcor Sports and Palmer Asia Inc.