Suba, Rivera season’s best in karting series

CARMONA, Cavite, Philippines – VJ Suba of Eagle Cement and Estefano Rivera of Fern-C Racing bagged the season’s top karting honors after posting victories in the last two ROK races of the 2012 Coca-Coca Karting Super Series at the Carmona Racetrack here recently.

Suba, who was with the Fern-C Racing Team in the first half of the season, swept the final two ROK senior races to capture the coveted Karter of the Year plum.

Rivera ruled Race 7 and copped the runner-up crown in Race 8 to clinch the Junior Karter of the Year award of this series sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines and sponsored by Coca-Cola, Yokohama Tires, Motorstar and Aeromed.

The Karter of the Year sealed a superb season for Suba who started racing at age 8. A son of a mechanic, he persevered to make it big in the sport.

Through the years, Suba relied mostly on the generosity of other karting parents and supporters like Kart Plaza which lent him the machine and provided other requirements to continue his racing career.

In return, he went on to become one of the country’s top karters and a coach to young racers.  He kept himself among the top three title contenders in the first half of the series under the wings of Fern-C Racing but it was the huge support of San Miguel Corp. chief Ramon Ang in the latter half of the season that helped Suba realize his long-time dream.

“Without their support, I could not have gone this far,” said Suba, who copped the ROK Senior crown with 257 points against CJ Tsui (217) of Formula-E Industria Racing and third placer Milo Rivera (212) of Fern-C Racing.

It was a struggle for Suba this season as he ended in a three-way tie with Rivera and Tsui in the race for the Karter of the Year  based on their performances in the 2012 Coca-Cola Karting Super Series and the 2012 Coca-Cola KF2-KF3 Cup Series.

But Suba prevailed in the countback, winning seven races and beating Rivera, who had five victories for second overall.

Estefano Rivera won the Junior Karter of the Year hands down as he bagged both the ROK Junior crown and the ROK Overall title in the 2012 Coca-Cola Karting Super Series and the KF3 plum in the 2012 Coca-Cola KF2-KF3 Cup Series.