11-year-old saves PH campaign in Beijing

BEIJING—Racing whiz kid William John Riley Go rescued Filipino karters from an inauspicious start to the season by topping the hotly-contested Mini ROK race in the 2019 Asian Karting Open Championships at the Red 1 International Circuit here recently.

The 11-year-old from Cebu timed 11 minutes and 50.895 seconds over 12 laps around the 1.306-kilometer Beijing track, coming from behind the pack to pip runner-up Sun Xiaoyu of China by a mere 0.238 of a second and third placer Yu Yan, also of China, by 0.997 seconds.

Melwin William Tan was the next best Filipino finisher in the class in 19th place as Chinese entries, helped by their familiarity with the sleek circuit, filled up eight of the top 10 spots.

So dominant were the Chinese and Japanese entries in the kickoff leg of the six-stop series that reigning Asian Formula 125 junior champion Bianca Bustamante and John Dizon, the top Filipino hope in the F125 senior class, missed out on podium finishes.

The 14-year-old Bustamante settled for fourth spot in the X30 juniors class, a massive 20.677 seconds off Chinese winner Ke Chuncheng, with her compatriot Miguel Quiñones landing 11th.

Dizon, the opening-leg winner of the 2019 Petron Blaze 100 GP Super Karting series back home, wound up 10.482 seconds off the winning pace and settled for 12th place in the F125 senior race ruled by Japan’s Souryuu Tagami (20:05.807).

William Tan was the third Filipino to land a podium finish, checking in fourth in the F125 Veterans Open won by Hong Kong’s Leung Wai-ming.