Marcelo, Calderon shine in Petron Karting kickoff

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San Miguel Corporation and Cebuano Jette Calderon of Jet Racing snatched victories in their respective classes recently in the kickoff leg of the 2011 Petron Karting Super Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.

Marcelo and Calderon engaged in a tight duel throughout the 20-lap final race sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by Petron, SMC, Denso Iridium Power and Yokohama Philippines.

However, Calderon slowed down a bit in the final lap as Marcelo pulled through to bag both the ROK senior and ROK overall crowns.

Marcelo, gunning for a historic fourth Karter of the Year, clocked 14 minutes, 35.914 seconds, escaping by just 0.485 seconds over Calderon in the ROK overall.

Ready2Race karters Roby Benito and Juha Turalba, who impressively rallied from behind, bagged third and fourth places, respectively, while Franco Reyes of Jet Racing ended fifth.

Marcelo also copped the ROK senior crown over Benito and Turalba. Reyes took fourth place while Arvin Drueco wound up fifth.

Calderon, last year’s Clubman Karter of the Year, emerged champion in the ROK junior over teammate Reyes with Japanese Marino Sato finishing third. 

Vrei-Ar Suba of FERN-C Racing and Daniel Miranda of Cebuana Lhuillier-Marcelo Racing followed in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Even more exciting was the wild battle in the SQ Karting class where Don Batino only managed to pull through midway from the pack and capture both the SQ Overall and Expert crowns.

Batino wrapped up the 15-lap race in 11 minutes and 30.051 seconds or just three seconds ahead of Peterson Lim and Raul Baretto in both division.

John Effinger, who made it fourth in the SQ Overall, claimed the SQ Veterans crown over Matthew Edmunds and Gonzalo Julian Jr.; while Daniel Castaneda, the SQ Overall fifth placer, clinched the SQ Novice crown over Mark Laxa and third placer Paulo Cabrera.

Also sharing the limelight was John Castelar of AUTS-Castelar Racing who captured the Formula SL Expert crown over newcomer Jonathan Houtari, last year’s top Rookie Joseph Marwin Rojo of Jet Racing, fourth placer Yvana Carangan of AUTS and Bobby Noriega of Tuason Racing School.

The next leg is set April 16-17 at the Batangas Racing Circuit.

For more info, interested parties may call the Carmona Racetrack c/o Rose Feria at 817-2241 or visit the website www.asiankarting.com.