FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD karting prodigy Jette Calderon of Industria/Red Bull Supreme Racing was victorious on the national stage as he took the title in the Formula 125 Open Junior class in the 2012 Philippine KF2/KF3 Super Karting Series last weekend at the Carmona Race Track in Cavite.
Calderon, a varsity racer of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, also finished in second place in the 2012 Asian Karting Open Championship in what was a consolidated race.
The youngster appeared to be headed towards a grand finish as he finished in first place during the qualifying heats 2 and 3 and also took the checkered flag during the pre-final race, wherein he clocked 13 minutes, 42.991 seconds in the 15-lap race.
According to Jette’s father, Jun, the team decided not to change the set-up on his kart as he was already performing well during the previous heats.
However, they did opt to have him start using brand new rain tires, thinking that it will give an edge. The move backfired for Calderon as the new tires took some time to heat up and get a grip on the track, which allowed Estefano Rivera of Tough Gear/Fern C Racing to break away from the pack.
Calderon managed to recover and gain some ground but was only able to overtake Darma MH of Indonesia and Jon Lee of Singapore to take second place in the AKOC.
Calderon finished with an overall time of 20 minutes, 12.289 seconds, eight seconds behind Rivera, who crossed the finish line in the 22-lap final race in 20:02.418. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio