Indon spoils RP karters' Macau campaign

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines suffered a big blow as Indonesian Sean Gelael emerged overall winner in the second leg of the 2010 Asian Karting Open Championship recently at the Kartodromo de Coloane in Macau.

Only Christian Gaddi of Jet Racing and Christian Villenueve of Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing managed to secure podium finishes for the Philippines in this event organized by the Automobile General Association Macao-China, sponsored by the Red White Racing Indonesia and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Tourism.

Gaddi checked in third behind champion Daim Bin Hishammudin of Malaysia and runner-up Maximilian Fewtrell of Singapore in the Mini-ROK division while Villeneuve made it fourth overall in the tough 12-man field in the Formula 125 Open Junior class.

Good thing Villeneuve managed to get back in the race after figuring in a collision with another Filipino Franco Reyes of Jet Racing who emerged the top Filipino winner in the kickoff leg at the Carmona Racetrack.

Cebuano JT Gullas saved the country from total disaster as he ran unopposed to claim the ROK Junior crown.

It was one tough race that even kickoff leg winner Richard Bradley took the early exit following a mechanical trouble.

His ouster made it easy for 16-year-old Gelael to control the tempo from coast-to-coast to sweep both the pre-fiinal and final races, and gain a tie for second (40 points) in the overall standings with Bradley.

Only Malaysian Weiron Tan provided the big challenge for Gelael. Tan, who chipped in the fastest time in the qualifying trials, tried to chase Gelael in the last five laps but the latter showed confidence and consistency as he held his grouind until the finish line.

But with his two runner-up finishes, Tan now leads the race for the Asian Karter of the Year with 42 points.

Christian Silvano of Indonesia took third place as he built a comfortable margin to keep compatriot Edward Cheever, who posted the fastest laptime of 49.27 seconds, to slice his way up from 18th to fourth place.

Alexandra Asmasoebrata fought her way back to a fifth place feat after a bad start that dropped her from third to ninth.

Singaporean Andersen Martono, only 13, took the honors in the 16-man, 18-lap Formula 125 Open Junior class over Darma M. Hutomo of Indonesia, who braved the pain of a wrist injury for the runner-up place.

Compatriot Yasuo Senna Iriawan of Red White Racing Indonesia grabbed third place over Villeneuve and Thailand’s Supanut Suwankham, who set the fastest lap of 49.909 seconds.

Benjamin Goh of Singapore copped the ROK Senior crown while Leung Pui Chiu and Lo Kwok Chuen made it a 1-2 finish for Hongkong in the Formula 125 Open Veterans against Malaysian Gary Mumford and Freddy Numan Lawan.

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