Young Ateneo karter shows potential in national karting series

MANILA, Philippines -- Fast-rising Karter Maverick Corpus showed a lot of promise when he finished a strong second runner-up in his first ever race at the 2015 Petron Blaze 100 ROK Karting Series. 

Corpus pushed Austrian Constantin Reisch to the limit as they went off to a virtual drag race to the finish line that kept the crowd on its feet in the final three laps of the last leg of the national karting series last January 24 at the Carmona Race Track. 

Corpus finished behind racing scion Inigo Anton of Castrol-Yokohama Racing Team, Cebu's Khaz Romoff of Empire Racing Management and Reisch. His podium finish made heads turn as the 11-year old Ateneo de Manila student surprisingly came with a strong performance in his first racing competition. 

Corpus easily got ahead placing 3rd behind Romoff and Anton after starting off 6th on the grid of the final race. 

After two laps of dicing with City Kart’s Cadet Expert top karter Joaquin Garrido, a strong overtake took Corpus behind, but he remained focused and kept his poise.  However, during the course of the 15-lap race, Reisch and Kristine Yokoyama with Miguel Angeles forcefully overtook Maverick on the second turn causing him a spin out which left him on the 7th place.  

With the last 6 laps of racing, Corpus got back on track as he easily overtook Angeles and Yokoyama which paved the way to his thrilling head-to-head race to the finish line against Reisch in the final 3 laps. 

“I anticipated the win but when I crossed the finish line, it didn’t bother much if I won or my friend, Constantine did.  I was happy to make that performance and was able to push myself that way.  And that, for me is winning.  I was always taught by my father to be a champion.  Not just in winning races, but in life and in accepting defeats," Corpus said. "That’s a real champion he says."

Corpus is looking forward to come out stronger in the Cadet Expert and KF3 divisions. The karting wunderkind, whose father Bart is also a race driver, only had two formal trainings before joining his first race. He was discovered while karting only for fun at the Enchanted Kingdom fun kart track in January 2015 and in over a year, he has transformed into one of the promising young karters with the help of his coach Edgen Dy-Lliaco, a former rally cross champion. 

Corpus, who is backed by BELCOR Construction & Development Corp. and B.D.Corpus Construction & Trading, will also be one of the awardees in the upcoming Philippine Golden Wheel Awards, considered the Oscar's of Philippine racing, which will be held this February.