ONE of the biggest factors that made the Petron Motorsports Karting Academy pick Cebu as the venue of its first clinic—to the chagrin of Manila—was the presence of supportive parents in the scene.
“Ang daming mga supportive parents dito,” said Petron’s Cheska Garcia.
She was right, there were a lot of parents on the scene last Saturday, when 39 kids showed up for the clinic. More had to be turned down because the capacity of the track--euphemestically called one of the “more challenging” in the country--is only 20.
I think all of the parents there are part of that group clamoring to revive karting in Cebu, which has one of the best drivers in the country, “challenging tracks” and all.
And to revive the sport, the parents will have a very, very important role, one that they must all agree on. What is that role? To be not involved.
I hear that for this karting re-start, parents will be encouraged to take the back seat, to let the mechanics and coaches handle their jobs. Basically, to stop being stage parents or hovering near coaches and to just let their kids drive.
Karting in Cebu basically died in 2014, and when I asked the people in Kartzone why, their evasiveness told me everything I needed to know. I seem to remember, too, an incident when cops had to be called to Kartzone to settle a dispute.
Karting is a sport for parents with deep pockets and some parents with deep pockets have competitive streaks who’d like to do things or get results their way in their own circles. Combine all those elements and you have a recipe for disaster. And in a sport where there are a lot of moving parts that could affect the result of a race, what can one mechanic do if, say, a parent instructs him to do this or that?
For Cebu karting’s restart, the parents involved want nothing of that and they acknowledge that while they will have a very big role in reviving the sport, when it comes to actual races itself, they must acknowledge that theirs will be diminished roles.
Aside from diminishing roles, the parents also want to focus on rules, one that will follow the standards set by the international body. Doing so means this practice of giving “team orders” will be out of the window? What are team orders? Well, if a team wants a certain driver to win over a target driver, they can spend the whole race making sure that target driver doesn’t finish ahead of their teammate.
Can Cebu karting get over its four-year hump? I think so, given how involved the parents are in last weekend’s clinic—conducted by renowned multi-motorsport coach Edgen Dy-Liaco—and given how they want to do things correctly this time around.
Among the plans are to start a regular series at Kartzone using their own karts—they aren’t as fast as the racing karts—just to give the new drivers that experience of racing. Another positive, too, is that Petron saw the interest and is willing to do more races and clinics here. And when their marketing associate saw a picture of Matteo Guidicelli at Kartzone and learned their endorser started karting there, a light bulb popped in her head.
So, don’t be surprised if Cebu karting’s most famous alumnus will be back for this reboot.