Three-way battle looms in karting series at Clark

MANILA, Philippines - A three-way battle for supremacy revs up as the sixth and penultimate leg of the 2010 Magnolia Purewater Karting Super Series gets going this weekend at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga.

Focus will be on two-time champion Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing, Roby Benito of Ready2Race and Javi Benitez of Jet Racing who will fight for the coveted Karter of the Year plum of this event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines.

Gunning for his third crown, Marcelo gained the edge in the title race with a victory at the Enchanted Kingdom. He now has 280 points.

Benito guns for both the Karter of the Year and the Junior Karter of the Year awards in a single season as he stays at second in the ROK overall race with 244 points and leads the race in the ROK Junior division with 321 points.

Benitez, a former local and Asian Junior Karter of the Year, also remained in the hunt for the Karter of the Year award at third place while Juha Turalba of Ready is fourth with 171 points.

Joining them in the combined field are Estefano Rivera of Fern-C Racing, Cebuanos Jette Calderon and Tonyo Carcel, Christian Villenueve of Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing and Asian Karting Open top Filipino winner Franco Reyes of Jet Racing.

Also gunning for crucial wins in the event sponsored by Magnolia Purewater, San Miguel Corp., Petron Corp., Yokohama Tires, Motorstar and Aeromed are defending champion Indy Villalon of AUTS Racing, who is bidding to widen his lead against Joseph and John Castelar of Castelar Racing and Yvana Carangan in the Formula SL Expert class; and Jericho Tolin, who tries to pull away from Fern-C Racing’s Lawrence de Leon and Ready2Race karter Wayne Norman Darvin in the Formula SL Heavy division.

Also on tap is the SQ Class where celebrity Onemig Bondoc seeks a repeat over Don Batino and Mike Mora while Philip Lau goes for his second straight win in the SQ Veterans class against Raul Barreto and Julius Milla

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