Marcelo rallies, tops super karting 3rd leg title

MANILA, Philippines -  Stefano Marcelo pulled off a big come-from-behind victory in the third leg of the Petron Karting Super Series to boost his title-retention bid in the event at the Boomland Kart Track of the CCP Complex recently.

The Maranello-San Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing bet outmaneuvered Fern-C Racing’s VJ Suba in the final race to notch his second win and stay on track for a record fourth Karter of the Year plum.

Suba, running on a borrowed engine from Kart Plaza, actually dominated the qualifying heat and the pre-final race and appeared headed for a sweep after controlling the early goings of the final race.

But Marcelo found the right set-up after struggling in the qualifying heat, overtaking Suba in the closing stages of the first 10 laps en route to victory.

He wrapped up the 28-lap race in 13 minutes, 40.574 seconds, 1.111 seconds ahead of Suba.

Roby Benito of Ready2Race checked in third while Jet Racing stalwarts Jette Calderon and Franco Reyes ended fourth and fifth, respectively, in the event sanctioned by the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by Petron, San Miguel Corp., Denso Iridium Power, Motorstar Eastway and Yokohama Phils.

Marcelo also copped the ROK Senior crown over Suba and Benito, with Reyes and Ready2Race bet Juha Turalba completing the podium winners.

Comebacking Oliver Aquino of Alessandra Racing won the Formula SL Expert crown over AUTS Racing’s John Castelar and Indy Villalon while last year’s Rookie of the Year Joseph Marwin Rojo came in fourth and Yvana Carangan wound up fifth.

Joseph Castelar, meanwhile, topped the SQ Expert race, turning back John Effinger, Nike Mora, Raul Barretto and Don Batino.

Gonzalo Julian Jr. topped the SQ Novice class over Mark Laxa while Effinger prevailed in the SQ Veteran class over Julian Jr. and Rolan de Guzman.

The next race will be on July 29-30 in line with the second leg of the 2011 Asian Karting Open Championship at the Carmona Racing Circuit.

For details, contact Carmona Racetrack c/o Rose Feria at 845-0745, 889-3389, 845-3287 and 845-4142 or visit the website www.asiankarting.com.