A Colborne youth is at the top of his class in racing for the second year in a row.
Eleven-year-old Elliot Stacey won the 2020 Rookie Division Championship and this year he won the Junior 2 Clone Class at Brockville Speedway.
Elliot is in grade-six at St. Mary School in Grafton and has been racing his go-kart for three years and what he likes about it most is that he gets to go fast.
The Honda clone engine is based on an engine widely available at places such as Princess Auto and is built to conform to American Kart Racing Association rules. All the go-karts have exactly the same engines so it’s all about the skill going around the track.
It has a nine horsepower engine where the top speed is just over 50 mph.
The car itself costs approximately $2,000 for a beginner, but the skies the limit how much you want to put into it.
It’s a oval dirt track in Brockville and Eiliot wears a helmet and complete fire suit when on the track racing.
Elliot competes in several races during the course of a night with a practice session, one heat race and the final feature race is 20-laps.
Other competitors come from Ottawa, Napanee, Kingston and Gananoque to race weekly.
During the first year of competition it was all about learning the sport.
“I was kind of going slow because I was getting used to the pace.”
But now there is no stopping him winning the Rookie Division last year and first again in his class this year.
Elliot’s father Ted got his son into racing.
Ted raced cars at Peterborough Speedway when he was younger in the late 1990’s and thought he’d see if his son was interested.
“It took his mom a bit of convincing to let him do it. But she saw how well it works together with families so she gave it the green light.”
As a former race car driver, Ted said as a parent he’s always concerned for his safety, “but we make certain he’s got good safety equipment on.”
His son had one “hard” crash this year when he hit the wall at full speed.
“It kind of shook him up a bit, but he got right back into the kart for the feature race and ended up driving from the back and finishing second.”
Elliot’s racing career is entirely in his hands said his father.
“Down the road, who knows, we may follow through with some of the entry level dirt classes. It’s all up to him.
Whatever he wants to do.”
But either way, Elliot’s parents are very proud of their son’s accomplishments in his short time of racing.
Last year, he won a few feature races on his way to the Championship
This year although he didn’t win any feature races, because of the points from consistent top finishes he came in first place.
Some of Elliot’s races are uploaded to his YouTube channel Stacey Motorsports.
Elliot would like to thank his sponsors for helping with all the associated costs involved with racing.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
