Jackes faces busy season ahead after big triumphs in Asian karting

MANILA, Philippines - Defending Asian Karting Mini-ROK champion Flynn Jackes faces a busy karting season ahead.

Today, the Fil-Australian Jackes seeks to duplicate his Mini-ROK and KF Junior Restricted triumphs in the first leg when the second stop of the 2014 Petron Blaze 100 ROK Cup Karting Super Series erupts at the Carmona Racetrack.

A spearhead of the new local satellite of Team Kart Master Drakar of Singapore, Jackes takes on a tough Mini-ROK XCS field that includes 2013 Cadet Karter of the Year Eduardo Coseteng Jr. and Dylan Arambulo of Tough Gear Racing, among others.

 He also hopes to rule the KF Junior Restricted Blaze 100 division anew against Mikey Jordan and Sean Draeco McLelland. Hopefully, his intense training would be enough to score a repeat.

“The physical demands increase yearly so I have to do gym training twice a week in order to handle some of the tighter tracks with lots of corners,” said Jackes, who normally trains at the track on weekends for the National Series.

In the coming weeks, Jackes will try to keep his Asian karting crown against a fast-developing field of karters from the region, particularly from Singapore, Macau and Indonesia.

“I would like to win the two higher race categories in karting (KF3 and KF2) for the Asian Championship, as well as participate in selective races in Malaysia and Europe. With offshore races, I have to juggle time away from school to minimize the impact on my school grades,” said Jackes. “In the Asian Championships, though, I will only race the Mini-Rok class under Kartmaster Drakar because of my age. I would be happy to win the Mini-Rok Championship again for 2014.”

Jackes, a Year 6 student at British School Manila, may just be a kid, but his career as a top-notch karter is already replete with countless awards.

He was the Mini-Rok Class 2012 champion and placed third in the Asian Championship. In 2013, he went further as he won the Asian Championship following brilliant finishes in races in the Philippines, Macau and Singapore. Also last year, Jackes raced – and won – Rounds 5 and 6 of the SKC Singapore Championship at the Changi Race Circuit. His 2013 achievements proved enough for him to bag several AAP Motorsports Awards for winning the National Series and Asian Championship. Early this year, he was presented the “Boy Ochoa Award” during the Golden Wheel Awards, “a real honor considering the racing legacy of Boy Ochoa,” he said.

“But for Asian Championship races, I need to be out of school for two days during each race weekend to do testing and chassis setup for each track. This year, I will race in Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines for the Asian Championship. My school understands this situation and I’m given reading and other assignments while I’m away,” Jackes revealed.