Gandionco scores gutsy win in Boomland karting

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu City pride Patrick Gandionco unveiled another sizzling performance to capture his third straight victory in the ROK Heavy class recently in the sixth leg of the 2009 Magnolia Pure Water Karting Super Series at the Boomland Track in Pasay City.

The 15-year-old Gandionco, a junior student of Centre for International Education in Cebu, came all determined to take all comers despite the short preparation and the wet track as he turned back title-rival Joseph Castelar in the 28-lap race.

He clocked 14 minutes, 15.417 seconds in clinching the checkered flag as he also finished fifth in the premier ROK overall division.

“We didn’t have much time to fully adjust the set-up for the wet race, so I just did as much as I could to win,” said Gandionco. “But I’m still happy I made it among the top five in the ROK overall and bag the victory in the ROK heavy class.”

With the win, Gandionco preserved his hold of the leadership in the ROK heavy class with 333 points or 21 points ahead of Castelar.

It was big show for Gandionco, who earlier ruled the races in Cebu and the Enchanted Kingdom. He was only seventh in the qualifying time trials with a clocking of 37.340 seconds and wound up sixth in the qualifying heat.

But the pre-final heat saw Gandionco’s fiery rally as he passed one karter after another to finish second behind ROK overall champion Andres Calma.

However, the onset of rains forced everyone to change to a wet set-up. With the limited time, his crew could only do as much adjustment but Patrick put up a good fight against the top guns as he even finished ahead of ROK overall leaders Joey Orduna and Roby Benito.