Turalba emerges top Pinoy finisher in Pagcor Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Juha Turalba of Ready2Race unveiled a big fighting heart as he finished top Filipino finisher with two podium appearances recently in the kickoff of the 2010 Pagcor KF2-KF3 Cup Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

The 15-year-old Turalba, a 10th Grade International School Manila student, has shown consistency and maturity in his racing skills against foreign rivals as he bagged the runner-up finish in Race 1 and took the second runner-up honors in Race 2 with the big support of Tuason Racing School, Tony Kart, OTK parts, HJC Auto Helmets, Sparco Racing, AIM Racing gauges, Oakley Race Gear, Active Group, Malarayat Golf & Country Club, Antonio’s, Asia Overseas Transport, Anyro Rent-a-Car, Sanyo Seiki Stainless Steel Corp., Bauan Doctors General Hospital, and Cattleya Resort.

Starting out fourth on the grid, the 2008 Asian Karting ROK champ took the cudgels for the Philippines after ace karter Stefano Marcelo took an early exit. Then leading Japanese Reo Takahashi was caught surprised by his smooth dive that wrested the lead on the eighth lap and executed impressive defensive skills to keep his post until the 16th lap.

Takahashi got back on top with four laps to go but Turalba refused to give up down to the very last lap as he checked in close by just 0.209 of a second behind the Japanese with a clocking of 14 minutes, 29.518 seconds.

“The competition was tough but it’s great to be very competitive in the beginning of the season. I am looking forward to a strong performance this year. It will be a challenging year but I will strive to be at the top all throughout the season,” said Turalba.

Race 2 proved to be a bigger challenge for Juha as he had to start 11th following frustrating time trials. But he worked his way up, running a fast laptime of 43.696 seconds to wind up sixth in the qualifying round.

Then he quickly passed two karters at the start of the final race and hit his fastest laptime of 43.583 seconds to climb up third on the fourth lap to wind up just close behind Marcelo and Takahashi after the 20-lap race.