Mechanic's son upends kart rivals after layoff

MANILA, Philippines –  VJ Suba of Fern-C Racing dominated the races even as defending champion Stefano Marcelo of San Miguel Corporation-Maranello-Marcelo Racing captured his back-to-back crown recently in the Pagcor Sports KF2-KF3 Karting Series at the Clark International Speedway (CIS) in Angeles City here.

Competing karters were put to a big test as they had to tackle two different track terrains of the separate CIS East and West courses in this event sponsored by Pagcor Sports and supported by Aeromed.

And the 17-year-old son of a mechanic lived up to the challenge as Suba ruled two of the four races. Considering his family’s financial condition, he could only race once-in-a-while getting support from Kart Plaza and kart parts from parents of other racing teams.

Despite a long hiatus, he proved himself worthy of his supporters’ trust as with his impressive display of driving skills, versatility and strategy on both tracks.

Suba bagged Race 7 of the 2010 karting series at the CIS East Course, clocking 12 minutes, 0.557 seconds or a slim 0.042 of a second ahead of Franco Reyes of Jet Racing with Marcelo landing in third.

Later, he pulled off a repeat in Race 2 of the 2011 series kickoff at the CIS West Course, beating Marcelo by 0.643 of a second with Fern-C Racing teammate Milo Rivera checking in third.

Marcelo grabbed his share of the limelight when he prevailed in Race 8 of the 2010 Pagcor Sports KF2-KF3 Karting Series over Reyes and Suba; while Reyes redeemed himself in Race 1 of the 2011 KF2-KF3 series kickoff where he turned back Suba and third placer Archim Lagman.

However, Suba’s stellar twin victory failed to stop Marcelo from winning his second straight KF2 crown after winning five of the eight races to wrap up his campaign with 127 points.

Juha Turalba claimed the overall runner-up crown with 73 points or just two points ahead of Milo Rivera who took third place. Suba ended fourth with 68 points.

Cebuano Jette Calderon of Jet Racing likewise scored the same feat when he also copped two of the four races in the KF3 division. 

He ruled Race 7 of the 2010 karting series and Race 1 of the 2011 series both against Fern-C Racing’s Estefano Rivera and Vrei-Ar Suba who made it second and third.

Estefano Rivera bounced back in Race 8 where he prevailed over Archim Lagman and Indonesian Andi Tangguh Farid while Vrei-Ar Suba shone in Race 2 of the 2011 series kickoff over Rivera and Calderon.

Calderon, who wound up the series with 79 points, lost the crown as he fell short by just one point from his teammate Franco Reyes who emerged the KF3 champion with 80 points.

For more info, interested parties may call the Carmona Racetrack c/o Rose Feria at 817-2241 or visit the website www.asiankarting.com.