MANILA, Philippines - The best in Asian karting converge anew as the Philippines plays host to the second leg of the 2011 Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC) set July 28-31 at the Carmona racetrack.
Some 60 karters from 10 countries have so far confirmed their participation in this prestigious event sanctioned by the Commission International de Karting (CIK) and the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by Petron (the official fuel), San Miguel Corp., Yokohama Tires (the official tires), Denso Iridium Power (official spark plugs), Vivere Hotel and Motorstar Eastway.
Neighboring countries Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Macau, Hongkong, Japan and India are expected to field in their best bets for the overall crown in this event supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Defending Asian Karting champ Sean Gelael is eyeing his back-to-back crown as he tries to steer Indonesia to another overall championship. He looks forward to a big comeback after winding up only fifth in the kickoff leg in Macau early this month.
It was Zahir Ali of Singapore who scored a dominating feat in the premier Formula 125 Senior Open class, as he pulled a big sweep of the pre-final and final race over compatriot Andrew Tang and third placer Weiron Tang of Malaysia.
The other titles at stake are the Formula 125 Veteran, Rotax Max Senior, Formula 125 Junior Open, Rotax Max Junior, Mini-ROK, Cadet SQ and the Yamaha FSL Novice and Expert classes.
Only Franco Reyes of Jet Racing competed in the Macau kickoff as he managed to claim fourth runner-up honors in the Formula 125 Junior Open.
But in this leg, the Filipinos aim to strut their wares against foreign challenge behind ace karters Stefano Marcelo of San Miguel Corporation-Maranello-Marcelo Racing, VJ Suba of FERN-C Racing, and Jette Calderon of Jet Racing as the event also serves as the fourth leg of the 2011 Petron Karting Super Series
Among the favored foreign karters vying for honors are last year’s RP leg champion and Formula BMW champion Richard Bradley, Indonesians Senna Sulaiman Noor and Christian Silvano, Kittitat Vongprai and Sasakorn Chaimongkol of Thailand, Joao Afonso of Macau, and Yasuo Senna Iriawan of Red-White Racing.
For more info, interested parties may call the Carmona Racetrack c/o Rose Feria at 845-0745, 889-3389, 845-3287 and 845-4142 or visit the website www.asiankarting.com <http://www.asiankarting.com/> .