Behind every fast lap is a team
For young racers, speed is only part of the game. At JGM Racing, the bigger lessons are discipline, teamwork and learning to handle both victory and defeat.
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For young racers, speed is only part of the game. At JGM Racing, the bigger lessons are discipline, teamwork and learning to handle both victory and defeat.
ZAF won the 2026 Petron Blaze 100 Philippine Super Karting Series Ladies Division, emerging as champion while finishing P7 overall out of 15 drivers in the regular, mixed Senior Class category.
FOR a family: Discipline — and a team that believes in you — helps keep you on track. Zaf with Dad Atty. Alex Avisado Jr. and mom Christy Avisado.
FOR a family: Discipline — and a team that believes in you — helps keep you on track. Zaf with Dad Atty. Alex Avisado Jr. and mom Christy Avisado.
For a family: Discipline — and a team that believes in you — helps keep you on track. Zaf with Dad Atty. Alex Avisado Jr. and mom Christy Avisado.The roar of a kart engine can make racing look deceptively simple: a driver, a machine and a track.
But for a young racer, there is a whole team behind every lap.
There are coaches teaching technique, mechanics preparing the kart, managers planning the racing journey and parents making sure a young driver gets to the track, ready to learn and compete.
For 13-year-old Zaphira “Zaf” Alexandra Aquino Avisado, that team is JGM Racing.
A Grade 9 student at Woodrose Alabang, Zaf first discovered karting almost by accident during a father-daughter school activity in Alviera, Porac, Pampanga.
“I first tried go-karts for fun when we had a father-daughter school activity in Alviera, Porac, Pampanga,” she recalls.
“The karting track, City Kart Racing, was beside the events place, and that’s where we tried go-karting with my friends and our dads.”
What began as a fun family activity soon became something more.
Zaf's father, Atty. Alex Avisado Jr., is a car enthusiast, so the idea of karting offered another way for father and daughter to spend time together.
“As a dad, I am partial to golf, shooting and cars,” he says. “So, I guess, karting is about cars and it is a good way I could bond with Zaf.”
A visit to a racetrack in Carmona, Cavite, however, introduced them to a different side of the sport.
There, they met JGM Racing team owner Congressman Jess Marquez and team manager Lalivette “Tita Lali” Carag.
What they discovered was that competitive karting was not simply about speed.
Learning the ropes
Karting is widely regarded as a grassroots entry point to professional motorsport, and Tita Lali explained to the family that young racers could begin training at an early age.
“The sport structure can train kids as young as five years old for competitive racing,” she explains. “While the ideal age to start karting is five to eight years old, this sport does not put a cap on the trainable age.”
What matters, she adds, are resources and the commitment to putting in the necessary seat time.
And the lessons go well beyond handling a kart.
“What can you expect from the karting training? Core racing skills, focus, data analytical skills, technical skills, physical fitness, plus mental and emotional maturity,” Tita Lali says.
“Don’t forget that the kids are also able to build their own network and have fun along their racing journey.”
For Zaf, that journey led to JGM Racing.
“After that visit, we decided to join the JGM Racing Team,” she says.
Joining the team, she adds, has changed her understanding of the sport.
“Go-kart racing is very competitive — it is physically and mentally demanding. It requires a lot of discipline and training. My coaches, mechanics and team members have given me a lot of support in all my races.”
That support became increasingly important as Zaf progressed.
Her most recent race was the 2026 T4 Karting Series Round 8, held on 12 and 13 September at the Carmona Race Track. It was her first time starting from P4 on the grid, marking another milestone in her racing journey with JGM.
Then came the result every young racer dreams of.
Zaf won the 2026 Petron Blaze 100 Philippine Super Karting Series Ladies Division, emerging as champion while finishing P7 overall out of 15 drivers in the regular, mixed Senior Class category.
For a sport traditionally dominated by men, her achievement also offers a glimpse of the growing presence of female racers.
But Zaf measures her progress by more than trophies.
“I have learned a lot from all the challenges,” she says. “Racing builds up my character to be gracious in victory and defeat.”
She credits her family and JGM Racing Team for supporting her journey, as well as Woodrose for being supportive of her practices and races.
“I am very privileged to be in a sport that I truly enjoy together with my family and with my JGM Racing Team,” she says.
More than the driver
There is an understandable tendency in motorsport to focus on the person behind the wheel.
The driver gets the helmet, the spotlight and, ultimately, the podium.
But every race tells a bigger story.
A kart has to be prepared. A driver has to be trained. Data has to be studied. Technique has to be refined. Mistakes have to be analyzed. And someone has to be there to remind a young racer that winning is only one part of learning how to compete.
For Zaf, JGM Racing has become that support system.
And perhaps that is the more important lesson she is taking from the racetrack.
Speed may get a driver ahead.
But discipline — and a team that believes in you — helps keep you on track.
