Go goes for another win, Bustamante seeks redemption in Asian karting

MANILA, Philippines — William John Riley Go guns for a reprise of his victory in last month’s season opener as he heads a Philippine crew out to engineer a stronger performance in the second round of the 2019 Asian Karting Open Championships starting today at Kartodromo de Coloane in Macau.

Go, the 11-year-old kart wunderkind from Cebu, produced the country’s solitary triumph in Beijing’s unfamiliar track, coming from behind to pip a pair of Chinese and rule the Mini ROK class by less than a quarter of a second.

So surprisingly dominant were the foreign title bidders in the opening leg that Filipino reigning Asian champion Bianca Bustamante settled for fourth place in the junior F125 class won by China’s Ke Chuncheng. Bustamante seeks redemption.

Miguel Dizon, the Philippines’ top hope in senior F125 race, sets out to improve on his 12th-place windup in Beijing, with William Tan, the only other Filipino apart from Go and Bustamante to post a podium finish in the kickoff leg, tipped as among the favorites to grab the title in the veterans’ division of the three-day competition.