RP, foreign karters gear up in Asian kart kickoff

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s finest karters pit talents anew against ace foreign rivals in the kickoff of the 2009 Asian Karting Open Championship set June 12-14 at the Kartodromo de Coloane Circuit in Macau.

The Philippine Karting Team, supported by the Department of Tourism and the Philippine Sports Commission, hopes to keep the overall championship after claiming five of the 11 titles last year.

Reigning Asian ROK champion Juha Turalba and Asian Junior ROK champion Joey Orduna of Ready2Race Team will banner the country’s quest of regaining the Asian Karting Overall crown after losing it to Thailand’s Tin Sritrai last year.

Turalba will spearhead the campaign in the Asian ROK Overall class while Orduna has signified intentions of competing in the KF2 Championship.

The other titles at stake are the Baby ROK, Mini-ROK, Yamaha Cup Junior, Yamaha Cup Senior, Rotax Max (Junior, Senior and Veteran), ROK Senior, ROK Junior, Formula 125 Open Junior and the Formula 125 Open Senior.

Among the top local karters competing in the said event are Aira Medrano and Carl Pollington of PCR-Tough Gear in the Baby ROK class; Christian Gaddi of Jet Racing and Jaz Monzones in the Mini-ROK; Cebuanos Tonyo Carcel and Jette Calderon in the Yamaha Cup Junior; Indy Villalon and Joseph Castelar of AUTS Racing in the Yamaha Cup Senior; Matthew Solomon and Brian del Val.

 of Ready2Race in the Junior divisions; and John Alvarez, Javi Benitez of Jet Racing and Patrick Gandionco in the Senior divisions.

Thailand is expected to be RP’s biggest rival for the titles with the presence of Sritrai, Nanin Indrapayong, Jonathan Reveille and last year’s Rotax Max Junior champ Sandy Stuvik moving up in the Senior Category.

Malaysia will be bannered by Ryan Mumford, Aaron Lim, Fahmi Ilyas, Natasha Seatter and Junior champ Bryan Mehta; Indonesia will be led by Ryan Anthony Monoarfa, Alexandra Asmasoebrata and Kevin Susilo; while Hongkong will be spearheaded by Luca Ferigutti.

Also joining the event are Japan, Singapore and China.

The other AKOC races are set July 18-19 at the Carmona Circuit Philippines; August 15-16 in Indonesia; October 10-11 back in Macau and November 7-8 in Thailand.

For details, interested parties may contact Carmona Circuit Philippines c/o Rose Feria at 817-2241.