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DEFENDING champion Stefano Marcelo of Maranello-San
Miguel Corp.-Marcelo Racing is not the arrive-and-drive
type of competitor but he did it for once—with much
pizzazz—for his third-straight sweep of the recent 2008
Shell Karting Super Series at the Cebu Kart Zone in Cebu
City.
Cebuano
race engineer Jed Neri and the crew of the Marcelo
Racing Team set the stage for Marcelo’s conquest of the
Cebu track despite the fact that they arrived only two days
before the race.
The
15-year-old Marcelo barely had enough time for practice.
He arrived only on Saturday because he still had to take
his examinations in school.
Marcelo
finished second to Javi Benitez in the qualifying time
trials, but got his groove going and wrested the lead
from Benitez in the second lap.
And,
despite ignition problems, Marcelo won the hearts of the
big Cebuano crowd as he coasted to victory in Heat 1
over a stubborn Vencer John Suba.
Then
everything went smoothly for Marcelo in the last two
races where he led wire-to-wire, beating Juha Turalba of
R2R-Tuason Racing and Cebu’s Patrick Gandionco.
With the
triumph, Marcelo fortified his grip of the solo
leadership to stay on course for a back-to-back Karter
of the Year award.
“It was
a bit tough to arrive and drive. The Cebu track is
notorious for its changing track conditions and I was
also worried that the talented Cebuano karters would
dominate,” said Marcelo.
“But I’m
happy everything went smooth for us, except for the
ignition problem that kept cutting the revs to 10,000
instead of the usual 13,400 rpm in Race 1. And I’m
thankful that the Marcelo Racing crew solved the problem
straight away,” he added.
Marcelo
had to forgo stints in Belgium and the World Super
Karting European Series in
Italy
this month because of his pressing schedule in school.
He has instead set his sight on the 2008 Asian Karting
Open Championship on June 28 and 29 in
Macau.
His
father John Marcelo and crew will fly to
Macau ahead of Marcelo to set up the kart. The young Marcelo will
fly to
Macau
Saturday morning and will have to head straight to the
qualifying race.
“The
exams are my priorities for now as a student [of the
Britiah School Manila]. I’m looking forward to a
back-to-back Asian Karting championship. Both the
Belgium and Italian races should have been good tune-ups
for the coming Asian Karting kickoff in Macau where I’m
also planning to race against the world’s best in the
KF1 Championship.”
“But at
least I’ll get a good rest, do adjustments on the kart
and work on other aspects where I have to improve on,”
he said. |
