Takaharu Nakamori of Apex Racing mastered the difficult and twisting Palawan International Circuit like no other and posted twin victories in the opening leg of the 2017 Petron ROK Karting Super Series over the weekend in Puerto Princesa City.
The 28-year-old karting ace from Tokyo won the 16-lap final race of the ROK Senior Expert Blaze 100 race in 16 minutes and 44.931 seconds, a hefty 9.866 seconds clear of runner-up Larco Cortez.
Karl Wilhelm of Praga Racing and Jerry Choi, the defending champion and owner of Apex Racing, finished third and fourth, respectively.
Nakamori also ruled the ROK Overall Blaze 100 race, winning by 2.066 seconds over John Dizon of Edgesport Racing. Cortez settled for third and Wilhelm took fourth spot, ahead of his Praga Racing teammate Gabrielle Garcia.
Dizon topped the ROK Senior Novice Blaze 100 race over Garcia and Apex Racing’s John Mallen; Brian Curie of Colibri Racing won the X30 Senior Palawan title over Rahan Dale Dolor of Palawan Racing and Arvin Drueco of Edgesport Racing, and the X30 Veteran Palawan crown over Ephraim Mandal of Palawan Racing.
Other winners included William Go of Edgesport Racing in the Formula Cadet Expert Ultron, Joharry Suba in the Mini-ROK XCS class, Keon Romoff in the X30 Junior Petron Tri-Action race, Vince Rojo of KartZone Cebu Racing in the Formula SL Expert Xtra division, Brian Curie of Colibri Racing in the X30 Senior Palawan and X30 Veteran Palawan races, and April Andrews in the Ladies’ Class. —STEVE SILVA, RACING CONTRIBUTOR