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Belleville, ON (October 22, 2015)- Talk to most 9½ year-olds and use the word 'loose'; they'll immediately look at their shoes. Introduce the term 'push' to the conversation and they'll assume you mean some playful rough housing on the school yard. A group of youngsters is learning a new vocabulary and developing a special skill-set in Brighton Speedway's Thursday Night Kart Club.
Belleville, Ontario's Carson Lemanis comes from a racing background. This summer, his grandfather Bob Prud'Homme – a former Late Model division track champion at the local 1/3-mile oval – was welcomed onto Brighton Speedway's Wall of Fame. The fourth grade, French Immersion student at Harry J. Clarke Public School recently concluded his first season of competition in the Rookie 1 division. He not only won races; he had fun and claimed the overall class championship. The youngster, who won't celebrate his 10th birthday until January showed a real talent behind the wheel.
With no actual racing experience for him to draw from, Prud'Homme says that everyone associated with the team – eventually known as 'CJ Racing', with its own fan page at www.facebook.com – was impressed at how quickly their young charge developed his talents and recorded some notable finishes.
"He won his first qualifying event during the second week of action and added a feature race triumph a week later," said the proud grandfather. "Along the way, there were a pair of main event checkered flags and a runner-up finish that would pace the way to the division title. Carson showed an ability to work his way through traffic and get to the front of the pack. That's a skill most racers don't usually develop until a couple of years in the sport. With a field regularly made-up of close to 10 competitors in each event, he was able to post some strong results throughout the season."
The young driver – who is a fan of Brighton Speedway Pro Late Model driver and fellow track champion Charlie Sandercock and lists Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jeff Gordon as his favourites in NASCAR – says he started off being a little bit nervous, but felt a little more comfortable in every event. In addition to his time in the go kart, Carson Lemanis also takes part in school basketball, soccer, cross-country and short distance running teams. Hockey, spending time with his friends Kaleb and Tucker and neighbourhood delivery of the Community Press newspaper also keeps this lad busy.
Carson Lemanis, his family and grandparents would like to thank the many friends, fans and followers – along with sponsors KD Transmissions and Elite Auto Service – for supporting the efforts of the #C1 machine throughout the 2015 Brighton Speedway Thursday night Kart Club season.
Prepared by: Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media
clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com, www.facebook.com/clarkemotorsports
613.968.6410
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