MANILA, Philippines - Jet Racing’s Franco Reyes and Cebu’s Kali Carcel pulled off victories in their respective events to save the day for the Philippines in the Asian Karting Open Championships which got under way at the Carmona Racetrack in Carmona, Cavite recently.
Reyes, 14, rallied in the final eight laps to beat erstwhile pacesetting Indonesian Yasuo Senna Iriawan of Red White Racing Indonesia for the Formula 125 Open Junior crown.
Carcel, on the other hand, bagged the Yamaha Cup Junior and the Formula SL Novice titles, besting older brother Tonyo Carcel of AUTS Racing and veteran Christian Gaddi of Jet Racing.
But it was Reyes who stole the show as he challenged Iriawan, who controlled the tempo in the first 14 laps. His hardwork and patience paid off on the 13th lap when he swept past the Indonesian in the second to the last turn.
Reyes wrapped up the 22-lap race in 15 minutes and 53.155 seconds or just a close 0.289 seconds ahead of Iriawan in the event sanctioned by AAP.
Japanese Marino Sato finished third while Tonyo Carcel of AUTS Racing and Christian Villenuve of Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing wound up fourth and fifth, respectively.
Matthew Chan of Team Fern-C Racing actually won the Yamaha Cup Junior but was slapped with technical violations, enabling Carcel to clinch the win.