Singaporean rules Asian karting; Sacha tops juniors

MANILA, Philippines - Singaporean Anderson Martono of Kartmaster sprang a surprise and beat a talent-laden field to rule the premier Formula 125 Open Seniors class in the penultimate round of the 2011 Asian Karting Open Championship at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga yesterday.

Lady karter Sacha Feliciano of Fern-C Racing also emerged the overall Formula SL Novice champion after stamping her class anew in the Yamaha Cup Juniors over Tuason Racing’s Basti Escalante, third placer Jaz Monzones, fourth placer Kali Carcel and fifth placer Sean Velasco.

The 14-year-old Martono rose to the occasion after teammate Andrew Tang, winner of the Carmona leg, figured in an accident Saturday, thus keeping the crown for Singapore in the event sanctioned by the Commission International de Karting (CIK) and the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP).

The big guns – Malaysian Wei Ron Tan and Filipino bets Milo Rivera of Fern-C Racing and four-time champion Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing, who topped Saturday’s qualifying, failed to keep pace with Martono, who took charge in the last six laps of the race.

Martono, who clocked 14 minutes, 50.669 seconds, won by just 0.035 over Archim Lagman in the event sponsored by Petron – the official fuel, San Miguel Corp., Yokohama Tires – the official tires, Denso Iridium Power – the official spark plugs and Clark Development Corp.

Bobby Domingo, son of DTI secretary Greg Domingo, took third place.

 while Tommy Rizky Adrian of Indonesia and Vincent Junius Nathan ended up fourth and fifth, respectively.

It was also a close fight in the Formula 125 Open Juniors which Indonesian Yasuo Senna Iriawan of Red White Racing topped to firm up his hold of the solo lead.

Actually, Sasakorn Chaimongkol of Thailand, Estefano Rivera of FERN-C Racing and Franco Reyes of Industria Racing dominated the early goings but a mix-up in the last seven laps enabled Iriawan to wrest the solo lead.

Indonesian Perdana Putra Minang of Red White Racing won the Mini-ROK crown over Thai Veravich Wongsanganan of Maxima Motorsports and Indian Kush Maini of Gautama Maini Racing.

Archim Lagman, on the other hand, topped the Yamaha Cup Expert over Cebuano Joseph Marwin Rojo, Yvana Carangan and Tonyo Carcel.

For details, 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.