Prodigious ace karter Juan Antonio “Tonyo” Carcel ended the three-year reign of the equally-talented Jette Calderon as he secured the Karter of the Year crown after winning the KT 100 expert class title in the final leg of the 2012 Kartzone Superkart Series last Saturday at the Kartzone track in brgy. Panagdait, Cebu City.
Carcel, from Paref-Springdale, ushered in a new era of dominance as he found himself at the back of the grid during the final heat but made it all the way to the front and took the checkered flag for the win.
He finished with a total time of 11 minutes, 37.661 seconds, a good three seconds clear of Calderon, who crossed the finish line in 11:40.906. Carcel also registered the fastest lap time in the final heat with his 27.592-second run.
Calderon, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s top racer, won the Karter of the Year plum for the last three years.
Carcel started off hot as he won the qualifying race over Calderon and Joseph Rojo. He started the first heat poorly and fell back to third place before recovering his bearings to overtake Calderon and win.
But disaster struck in the second heat as Carcel, Calderon and Rojo were all penalized for bumping and were sent to the back of the line for the final heat. This did not deter Carcel as he took the second place position away from Sean Velasco at the start of the race.
Three laps later, Carcel took the lead from JT Gullas and cruised his way to the checkered flag.