Kaito Tsukada sweeps ROK GP karting

MANILA, Philippines — Kaito Tsukada posted a handsome sweep of races 5 and 6 to steal the thunder from his Filipino rivals in the Petron ROK GP Karting Super Series at the new kart track of Clark International Speedway in Pampanga over the weekend.

Tsukada, the phenom from Tokyo who finished runner-up in a leg of the highly competitive 2018 All-Japan Kart Championships recently, came all the way from sixth spot on the starting grid to top race 5 on Saturday in 16 minutes, 56.048 seconds.

He pipped second placer Jarred Kim, a junior ROK campaigner, by 0.945 of a second and another junior karter, Bianca Bustamante, by 8.699 in the 21-lap spin over the sleek 13-turn 1.25-km track.

Pre-race favorite John Dizon, the big winner of race 4 at Carmona racetrack two weeks ago, and Karl Wilhelm rounded out the top 5 overall in the combined race, both too far out to challenge the masterful Tsukada and his finely tuned machine.

Setting out second on the grid after the two qualifying heats in a sunny race 6 on Sunday, the 16-year-old Japanese prevailed this time with a quicker clip of 16:48.20 minutes, 1.828 seconds clear of Dizon and 4.57 ahead of Kim. Bustamante (6.95 off) and Dylan Sy (15.5) followed them home in that order.