MANILA, Philippines - The young Fern-C Racing team karters held their ground and posted impressive finishes against the fancied foreign bets in the third leg of the 2012 Asian Karting Open Championships and Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2012 KF3-KF2 Cup Series at the Carmona Racetrack in Cavite recently.
New recruit Raymond Ryan Cudala rose to the challenge while brothers Estefano and Milo Rivera, both from Don Bosco-Makati High School, turned in first runner-up finishes in their respective divisions after clinching the Formula 125 Open Senior and Junior titles respectively in the first AKOC race last month.
Dylan Arambulo also turned in a solid performance, placing second in the Formula Cadet Expert class and a third place finish in his debut in the local Mini-ROK division.
Matthew Chan rallied from 16th place to finish seventh overall, upstaging Indonesian Anderson Martono and Singapore’s Mohd Nasri Naufal Bin Nasir in the premiere Formula 125 Open Seniors. He also claimed the third runner-up honors in the KF2 Race 6 of the 2012 KF3-KF2 Cup Series.
In all, the Fern-C Racing team hauled a total of three champion trophies, five runner-up finishes, three third place honors and two fourth place finishes to emerge the winningest team in the event with support from Bosch Power Tools.
The 13-year-old Cudala, the pioneer winner of the Champions of the Future Series, fought back from a fourth place finish in the Pre-Finals to humble all the Expert drivers in the Finals of the combined race en route to winning the Yamaha Cup Novice crown for the team’s lone champion trophy in the Asian Karting Open.
He also placed fourth in the tough Formula 125 Open Juniors and made two third place finishes in the KF3 races of the 2012 KF3-KF2 Cup Series.
Estefano Rivera appeared headed for a back-to-back title romp in the Formula 125 Open Juniors by seizing control in the first half of the final race until Japanese Marino Sato caught up with him in the 12th lap and never looked back.
But he emerged the top Filipino junior karter, finishing second in the said class. The 15-year-old Don Bosco-Makati junior student also clinched two KF3 champion trophies in the 2012 KF3-KF2 Cup Series to boost his bid in the Karter of the Year and Junior Karter of the Year honors in a single season.
Milo Rivera struggled in the face of the Indonesians and other rivals’ charge and settled for third behind runner-up and former champion Stefano Marcelo and Pre-finals winner Senna Sulaiman Noor of Indonesia.
But he prevailed in the Final race, wresting the pole in the first turn and keeping the lead until the fourth lap before former teammate VJ Suba took over the top spot to the finish line to secure the lone victory for the Philippines.
Noor and fellow Indonesian Yasuo Senna Iriawan tried to press their bids in the last six laps where the latter dislodged the older Rivera in third place. But Milo came through with timely maneuver in the second-to-the-last curve going to the finish line to make it a 1-2 finish for the hosts.
Milo likewise bagged two KF2 runner-up finishes to preserve his lead in the 2012 KF3-KF2 Cup.