Rivera claims karting three-peat

MANILA, Philippines - Estefano Rivera finished third in the final leg of the Magnolia Pure Water Karting Super Series, completing a three-peat in the country’s premier karting circuit at the Clark International Speedway recently.

The 13-year-old Rivera stood 30 points behind Tonyo Carcel of Cebu heading into the final leg. But Carcel wavered in the race, enabling Estefano to finish ahead of the erstwhile leader to clinch the overall crown in the Formula SL Novice class with a total of 427 points.

Rivera, the PCR-Tough Gear Racing-FERN C Team mainstay and the Asian Yamaha Cup Juniors champion, also captured the Formula SL Novice and the Rookie of the Year titles in the series sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and sponsored by Magnolia Pure Water, San Miguel Corp., Petron, Denso, Motorstar and Aeromed.

Gab Dacasin and Archim Lorenz Lagman finished 1-2 in both the Formula SL Novice and the MBA class.

Lawrence de Leon, also of PCR-Tough Gear Racing-FERN C team, wound up third.

Estefano’s brother, Milo Rivera also dished out an impressive performance in his first season in the Formula SL Expert class, humbling three more experienced AUTS Racing top guns – Indy Villalon, Joel Caniza and Joseph Castelar.

Milo struggled throughout in warding off Villalon but pulled a heart-stopping photo finish, completing the 16-lap Formula SL Expert race in 18 minutes and 1.157 seconds or a mere 0.004 of a second ahead of Villalon.

With his feat, he wound up third overall in the said class with a total of 334 points.

Clinching the other junior titles were Matthew Solomon of Ready2Race, Christian Gaddi of Jet Racing, and Carl Pollington of PCR-Tough Gear Racing-FERN C Team.

Solomon turned back teammate Jennifer Tumambing and Vrei-AR Suba of PCR-Tough Gear Racing-FERN C Team to claim the overall ROK Novice title with a total of 454 points.

Gaddi swept both the Pre-Final and Final races over Basti Escalante of Ready2Race and Cebu’s Kali Carcel to capture his second straight Mini-ROK plum.

Pollington pulled a sweep of all races, revving past teammate Aira Medrano in a photo finish-fashion to bag the Cadet Karter of the Year diadem. He wrapped up the 11-lap race in 13 minutes and 17.421 seconds or by just 0.013 of a second ahead of Medrano.