Rains to perk up action in Asian karting

MANILA, Philippines - The expected rainy weekend will add excitement and unpredictability as 96 confirmed participants from 10 countries plunge into action today in the second leg of the 2011 Asian Karting Open Championship (AKOC) set July 28-31 at the Carmona Racetrack.

The rain will squeeze out the real talent, flexibility, endurance and strategy of the karters on the slippery track and only the best will survive the challenge in this prestigious event sanctioned by the Commission International de Karting (CIK) and the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP) and sponsored by Petron (official fuel), San Miguel Corp., Yokohama Tires (official tires), Denso Iridium Power (official spark plugs), Vivere Hotel (official residence of AKOC) and Motorstar Eastway, and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.

These karters from 30 participating teams will be vying for the titles in the Formula 125 Open Seniors, Formula 125 Open Juniors, Formula Open Veteran, Mini-ROK, Yamaha Expert, Yamaha Novice, SQ Expert, SQ Novice and SQ Cadet classes.

Bannering RP’s campaign in the Formula 125 Open Seniors are Juha Turalba and Roby Benito of One Racing Team, Vencer John Suba and Milo Rivera of FERN-C Racing.

Fernando Villalon and Joseph Castelar of AUTS Racing, Alessandra Madrigal of Alessandra Racing, Arvin Drueco of Kart Plaza and Archim Lagman of RP-1.

They will be going up against the bests in Asia, which includes Indonesians Senna Sulaiman Noor of Kosmic Racing Japan, Christian Silvano of Red White Racing, and Gabriel Arcaradine Dwisatria od RR Motorsports; Singapore’s Andrew Tang of Kartronix International, Andersen Martono, Chan Key Hong and Sean Tang of KartMaster and Julien Fong of Simon Racing Team; Malaysians Tanapon Nokkaew of BHPetrol Racing and Aaron Chang Mun Shien of IS Racing Team; and Kittitat Vongprai of CRG-Thailand.

Arjun Maini of Gautam Maini Team -India, Sasakorn Chaimongkol of Maxima Motorsports-Thailand, Timothy Yeo of IRU 1 Racing-Malaysia aim to repeat their 1-2-3 feat respectively in the kickoff leg up against Macau fourth placer Franco Reyes and Jette Calderon of Industria Racing Team, Indonesian Yasuo Senna Iriawan of Red White Racing, RR Suba, Estefano Rivera and Matthew Chan of FERN-C Racing, Marino Sato of Aran Racing-Japan, Darma MH of Humpuss Junior Racing Team and Toby Earle of CRG-Thailand among others.

Carl Pollington of FERN-C Racing, Vince Adrian Rojo of Cebu Racing and Xedrei Daquigan will lead the Filipino charges in the Mini-ROK division against top guns Presley Martono of DT Racing-Indonesia, Kush Maini of India, Darryl Wenas of KartMaster-Singapore and Thailand’s Sasint Kongpatanakul and Veravich Wongsanganan of Maxima Motorsports.

Among the favored karters are Malaysian Freddy Numan Lawan in the Formula Open Veteran; Basti Escalante of Tuason Racing and Sacha Feliciano of FERN-C Racing in the Yamaha Novice; John Castelar of AUTS Racing in the Yamaha Expert; Don Batino in the SQ Expert; Daniel Castañeda in the SQ Novice and Raymond Cudala in the SQ Cadet.For more info, interested parties may call the Carmona Racetrack c/o Rose Feria at 845-0745, 889-3389, 845-3287 and 845-4142 or visit the website www.asiankarting.com.