Cebuano karting prodigy William John Riley Go. (DALE ISRAEL / INQUIRER VISAYAS)
CEBU CITY — Fourteen-year-old Cebuano karting prodigy William John Riley Go will head for Europe again to train and compete in various racing competitions after becoming the first Filipino to reach three successful podium finishes in 2022 in three various races there.
Go got a silver medal in the 2022 FIA Karting Academy in Genk, Belgium; a bronze in the WSK Euro Series in Lombardia, Italy; and a World champion title in Super ROK in Lonato, Italy last October 2022.
But before becoming world champion, Go admits to having been a victim of bullying when he started in the local and international competitions with other players ganging up on him.
“There are six or seven drivers in one team alone, and their goal was to at least try to put me in the bad spot so I would crash in the race. So in one year I had to replace my cart four or five times because of the amount of crashes that I was in and them taking me out intentionally. Even the kids would say we will crash you out. At one point I would ask my dad, is God real?” Go recalled.
The bullying, however, did not stop him from pursuing his passion.
“I want to prove them wrong. They have done so many bad things to me that the only way to shut them off is to just win something that they could not do. And in the end, I am here, I am still racing and winning in Europe while some of them I have never heard of for many years now,” Go said.
In the Super ROK where he emerged World Champion, Go finished the 20-lap competition with a time of 16 mins and 12.687 seconds, besting 36 racers from more than 10 countries. He was also awarded the pole position and the fastest lap under the Super ROK category.
Next week, Go is going back to Europe to train once again and defend his title. He will also compete in the same races and other new ones including WSK Series, FIA European Championship, ROK Cup, RGMMC Champions of the Future and a lot more.
He started racing when he was only six years old and Go said his ultimate goal is to race in Formula One someday.
“I just don’t do it for myself. I do it for my country, the Philippines. And I also do it for my team,” he said. “Everytime I wanna win, I don’t just think of myself. Always, I want to put the country on top to put more support, steps to world championships.”