Filipino karters reign supreme

MANILA, Philippines — Bianca Bustamante, Joharry Suba, Anthony Baisa and the veteran Jerry Choi clinched the overall crowns in their respective classes for the Philippines despite a bristling title hunt by their foreign rivals in the final stop of the Asian Karting Open Championships series at Kartodromo de Coloane in Macau recently.

Bustamante, behind successive victories in the first three legs, slowed to a sixth-place finish in the season closer won by Malaysia’s Adam Putera, but still topped the X30 Junior and Formula 125 Junior Open overall tallies with a lot to spare over compatriot Miguel Joseph Quinones and Singapore’s Nikhil Kailash Bohra.

The 13-year-old from Assumption College flashed home 9.724 seconds behind Putera, who timed 15 minutes and 27.816 seconds over 18 laps around the 1.2-kilometer circuit.

Colombia’s Diego Contecha, Bohra, Thailand’s Intrahuvusac Tasanapol and Hong Kong’s Gerrard Lam Xie-wing rounded out the podium top five with Putera in the races co-sponsored by San Miguel Corp. and Petron.

In the decisive leg that saw top Filipino hope Eduardo “EJ” Coseteng wind up ninth in the world-class field and settle for second overall to Japan’s Kaito Tsukada in both the premier X30 Senior and F125 Senior Open classes, Suba and Baisa rose to the challenge with aplomb.

The 10-year-old Suba had the luxury of coming in ninth, seven rungs below runner-up Zach David – the best Filipino finisher in the leg ruled by Italy’s Rashid Al Dhaheri – and still paced a 1-2-3 Philippine finish in the Mini ROK overall tally (190 points) with William Riley Go (178) and David (161).

Baisa took the overall crown in the F125 Master Open class with 126 points over Arvin Drueco (122) and Choi (69) despite settling for seventh place in the 24-lap Final race won by Japan’s Masanori Kato in 25:22.083.

Choi gave the last leg a miss, having piled up an insurmountable lead as he kept his AKOC F125 Veterans Open title over runner-up William Tan and third placer Leung Waiming of China.