6th March 2014

Ford zooms by rivals with a late charge - From the Shepparton News

Liam Ford is his name and go-kart racing is his game.

The Numurkah driver competes in the Rotax Pro Tour — Australia’s premier kart racing circuit — and broke through for one of the biggest wins of his young career at Dubbo at the weekend.

Ford, 14, took out a thrilling Junior Max Trophy Class final to move into second on the overall tour standings after three rounds.

With three drivers nose-by-nose and tailto-tail on the final lap of the 22-lap final, Ford made his move on the second last corner to claim the win by 0.3 sec from series leader Brooke Redden from Western Australia.

‘‘It was pretty exciting, it was my first win in a long time,’’ Ford said.

‘‘It was really intense and I only passed the others on the second last corner.’’

Rain made racing even more of a challenge, but Ford’s dad and race mechanic, Adrian Ford, made the necessary alterations to ensure he was more than competitive in the slippery conditions.

‘‘I prefer racing on a dry track, but we put on wet weather tyres, which makes the front of the kart wider and the rear more narrow,’’ he said.

‘‘Dad does most of that.’’

Ford took up the sport about five years ago, after spending a day with former Goulburn Valley Kart Club president Graham Powles.

His current kart boasts a 125cc watercooled two-stroke engine and reaches speeds upwards of 100 km/h.

Ford regularly competes against older drivers, with most in his class 15 years old.

Each round consists of qualifying sessions, three heats, a pre-final and a final, with drivers completing about 100 laps on an average weekend, including a 25-minute race at full noise.

The next round is at Lithgow NSW next month, with the sevenround series to finish in July, prior to the Rotax Nationals in September.

Next year Ford will be eligible for the move to a higher class, where the top three drivers are invited to represent Australia at the KartWorld Championship.

This weekend Ford is contesting the Victorian Open Sprint KartChampionships at Oakleigh, where a top 10 finish would be an excellent result, given he is racing drivers up to 16 years of age.

Racing finishes on Sunday.