WILLIAM JOHN RILEY GO gave his father the best birthday present after winning his first race in the X30 Southeast Asian Series last Aug. 26 at the Bira Kart Circuit in Pattaya, Thailand.
It was the nine-year-old Cebuano track prodigy’s first title in the six-leg series, vaulting him to a joint third overall in the series after earning 45 points in Thailand. Go, whose father Wendell celebrated his birthday during race day, has 110 points in the series, trailing Zacahary David (152 points) and Sitarvee Limnantharak.
From the qualifying up to the pre-final and final, Go displayed his consistency despite the difficult race conditions because of the rain. He was third in the qualifying round in 1:02.470, trailing Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi (1:02.653) and Dion Gowda (1:02.698).
In the eight-lap Heat 1, he climbed to second with a time of 8:28.321, and a best time of 1:02.943, trailing Bhirombhakdi, who had a best lap of 1:02.943 in his 8:28.751 finish.
In Heat 2, Go improved to first in 8:28.321, with a best lap of 1:03.032 and was more than a second ahead of Bhirombhakdi. In the pre-final, the Cebuano had to deal with different rivals as Bhirombhakdi failed to complete his laps. Still, the Cebuano was up to the challenge as he finished the 10-lap pre-final in 10:37.276, beating Akshay Bohra (10:38.867) and Enzo Tarnvanichakul (10:40.996).
The 12-lap final had to be shortened to nine due to the heavy rains but Go was way ahead of his rivals, tallying a best time of 1:03.001 to finish first in 9:51.635, more than a second ahead of second placer Adam Mikail (9:54.759) and Tiziano Monza (9:55.853), while Bhirombhakdi only managed a seventh-place finish in 9:59.781. (ML)