Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Carcel averts Cebuano drought in Shell Superkarting
CEBU has just gotten itself a new karting star.
Before, Matteo Guidicelli, then a young racer, was the talk of the town when he kept winning titles in the local, national and even in the international scene and became synonymous with karting.
Yesterday, the two-time Karter of the Year awardee and former Sportswriters Association of Cebu Athlete of the Year failed to live up to his lofty billing as he finished a disappointing third in the Formula SL Expert Class in the third leg of the Shell National Superkarting Series at the Kartzone in Mabolo.
Guidicelli, who was expected to lift Cebu’s banner, could only salvaged third place after suffering technical difficulties, losing to Indy Villalon who had a time of 12:28.270 and Bobby Domingo, who clocked in 12:30.471.
Guidicelli’s reputation just might be scrubbed out when young upstart, Juan Antonio Carcel, a Guidicelli in the making, came to Cebu’s rescue, saving the host city from a total shutout with his win in the mini ROK division.
Carcel, the 12-year-old from Paref-Springdale, may be the youngest in the field, but he showed no signs of his youth when he burned Kartzone’s asphalt with his aggressiveness.
In the final 15-lap heat, Carcel trailed Cedric Remo in the third to the last lap at second. However, he gained control of the race when he took over the pole position from Remo and Asian champion Christian Gaddi in the 14th lap and never looked back from there.
Carcel registered a time of 7:00.105, almost half a second ahead of eventual second placer Gaddi, who posted 7:00.686.
This is Carcel’s second crown in the racing circuit and the second time this year that he won over Gaddi. The race circuit, which is a yearlong series, is dependent on the points that the racers make. The win placed Carcel on top of the field and ahead of Gaddi.
Gaddi, however, bounced back when he won the Cadet 60 CC novice class, which saw Dacasin and Carcel’s younger sister Kali claiming the second and third places, respectively.
Javi Benitez won the ROK Juniors class over Vencer Suba and Andres Calma.
Reigning Karter of the Year Stefano Marcelo of San Miguel-Marcelo Racing on the other hand, extended his dominance in the Formula 125 Seniors/ROK Seniors class, defeating Juha Turalba and Cebu’s Patrick Gandionco. (MCB)
