RP karters battle the best in Asian Open

Top Filipino karters will vie for honors against the best not only in Asia but the rest of the world in the 2005 Asian Karting Open Championships (AKOC) to be held in Macau Dec. 17-18.

Over 24 local karters, many of them already champions in their own right, including such names as Marlon Stockinger, Armando Paolo Gonzales, Franco Reyes, Javier Miguel Benitez, Juha Turalba and two teen-aged firebrands, Harriet Campbell, 15, and Michele Bumgarner, 16, are all set to compete for the top prizes in Asia’s most prestigious karting series.

Campbell and Bumgarner will join the Rotax Max Senior/Veteran and ICA categories, respectively.

Jointly organized by the Macau Sports Developments Board (MSDB), the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) and the China-Macau Autosports Club (ACMC), the event is being hosted for the second consecutive year by the former Portuguese enclave, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China.

After the success of last year’s event, acclaimed by spectators and competitors alike, the organizers have added new elements to give the race a higher, more exciting international profile, according to a joint announcement made by MGTO director Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, MSDB acting VP Jose Maria da Fonseca Tavares, AMCM general assembly president Lo Keng Chio and ACMC president Chong Coc Veng.

Special invitations have been extended to about 30 world-class karters, who distinguished themselves in the CK-FIA World Karting Championship held in Portugal last September, to complete in the Formula A category, in addition to the fourth round of the AKOC. The invitees include the two runners-up, Jon Lancaster from the United States and Davide Fore from Italy.

In addition to those from the Philippines, over 150 competitors from 20 other countries–including the U.K., Italy, Denmark, Sweden, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Singapore and Korea–will participate in the various racing categories of the Macau International Kart Grand Prix, including Formula A, Rotax Max Junior, Rotax. Max Senior/Veteran, ICA, Formula Cadet 60 and Formula Cadet 85.