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Team Blue Ocean wins Go-Kart Championships, takes $2K
Team Blue Ocean topped the 2014 Budweiser Go-Kart Championship held last Sunday at the Mariana Seaside Circuit of Mariana Resort & Spa.
Hiroshi Kitayama and his Blue Ocean teammates took home $2,000 in prize money, while the Young and the Restless team led by Misaki Kitayama came second and won $1,000. The Carlos Rivera-led Century Hotel came in at third and pocketed $500.
A total of 19 teams joined the go-kart race and about 250 people attended.
Jaydeen Sablan won the raffle drawing that took place at the event and walked away with the grand prize of a round-trip ticket for two to Japan, courtesy of Delta Air Lines.
The race was organized by the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands as one of its signature fundraising events.
Committee member Carlos Rivera said the turnout was a great success.
“It was another great, successful event overall. Hopefully next year we’d have a larger number of participants from the racing teams, volunteers, as well as food vendors,” Rivera said.
According to go-kart committee chair William Retardo, all of the event’s proceeds will go to HANMI, which is about $4,600.
“It was a very good race from the beginning to final, there wasn’t any major accident and there were only a few minor problems,” Retardo said.
HANMI president Nick Nishikawa was elated with the amount raised and the large number of participants.
“This is the second time with the go-kart event and I am quite surprised that many people joined and participated and everyone was excited. This year’s event was wonderful,” he said.
Nishikawa said that the money raised will definitely return to the community. “This money will be for the community and we will try to create many events to support the community in many ways.”
Nishikawa noted that HANMI would be hosting its annual golf tournament, the 13th Annual HANMI Charity Classic, at the Mariana Resort golf course on June 7, 2014. He encouraged everyone to once again support this HANMI event as “it’s for the community.”
