Cebu’s Gandionco gets his birthday wish in Shell Helix Karting

Cebu Racing Group karter Patrick Gandionco got a big early birthday gift as he knocked the lights off the top favorites to rule the seventh and penultimate leg of  the 2007 Shell Helix Karting Super Series at the Boomland Kart Track, Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex in Pasay City.

Actually, Gandionco and his rivals Javi Benitez of Jet Racing and Juha Turalba of Tuason Racing-Ready2Race were all born October 14 but it was Gandionco who got his wish fulfilled as he swept all three races in the ROK Junior division of this event sponsored by Shell Helix, Denso Iridium Power, Eastway Company-Motorstar, Aeromed Ambulance Transport and Yokohama Kart Tires - the official tires.

Gandionco, now 13, was unstoppable throughout displaying near-flawless driving from start to finish as he posted the fastest laptime of 29.892 seconds to emerge the only Junior Karter to break the 30-second barrier.

The feat pushed Gandionco up to third place overall.  He wrapped up the 26-lap race in 13 minutes and 5.40 seconds or a far 3.639 seconds ahead of runner-up Benitez.

Roby Benito of Tuason Racing-R2R, who ruled the Cebu leg, bounced back from a fifth place finish in Race 2 to claim third place while Vencer John Suba and Turalba ended fourth and fifth respectively.

“The Boomland track is much like the Kart Zone in Cebu.  And we’re lucky everything went just perfect for us.  That gave us great chances of bagging the overall runner-up finish, that is if we win the championship race in Carmona,” said Gandionco.

Winning the other races are Joey Orduna of Tuason Racing-R2R, Renz Pazcoguin  and Vei-AR Suba of Jet Racing.

Orduna kept solid grip of solo leadership in the Mini-ROK class following another big triumph over Tonyo Carcel of the Cebu Racing Group and Franco Reyes of Jet Racing.

Pazcoguin displayed guts and strategy as he clocked 13:47.623 to turn back Paolo Ferrer and Andres Calma of Birel-San Miguel in the Formula SL Novice division.

Suba, on the other hand, survived the tight dicing with Christian Gaddi to rule the Cadet 60 Novice division.  Gaddi, who checked in 3.598 seconds behind Suba, copped the runner-up finish while Kali Carcel of Cebu Racing Group, Kim Cedric Remo and Jennifer Tumambing ended third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

For full results and details, interested parties may contact Carmona Circuit Philippines c/o Rose Feria at 817-2241.