MANILA, Philippines - Ace karter Stefano Marcelo of TonyKart-San Miguel Corporation-Marcelo Racing made another towering performance as he pulled off a sweep in the KF2 division recently in the third leg of the 2009 PAGCOR Sports KF2-KF3 Series at the Carmona Circuit Philippines.
It was a big comeback stint in the local karting scene for the 17-year-old Marcelo who struggled hard against top Indonesian bet Senna Sulaiman Noor in this event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by PAGCOR Sports and Palmer Asia Inc. – The Fire and Security Expert.
The win puts Marcelo in a tie for third place with Juha Turalba of Ready2Race at 40 points apiece. John Alvarez of Maranello-San Miguel Corporation-Marcelo Racing now takes the lead with 62 points for a seven-point edge over Japanese Daiki Sasaki, second overall with 55.
Marcelo started third in Race 5 and stuck behind Noor during the first 16 laps. A quick maneuver caught Noor by surprise as Marcelo grabbed the lead on the third turn of the next lap and pulled ahead for the win.
He wrapped up the 20-lap race in 14 minutes and 13.140 seconds or 1.187 seconds ahead of Noor.
Teammate John Alvarez made it third.
while Turalba and Cebuano Patrick Gandionco wound up fourth and fifth, respectively.
Race 6 saw Noor again dominating the first few laps but Marcelo took him again at the same spot on the fourth lap and dictated the tempo from thereon.
Alvarez took advantage of the startled Noor and wrested second place to forge a 1-2 finish for Marcelo Racing.
Marcelo, who posted the fastest laptime of 42.650 seconds, finished the race in 14:14.658 while Alvarez checked in by a close 0.283 of a second behind for the runner-up finish.
Japanese Daiki Kawanishi took third place by five seconds behind Marcelo while Noor and another Japanese Noa Satomi ended fourth and fifth, respectively.
For other details, interested parties may call up Carmona Circuit Philippines c/o Rose Feria at 817-2241.