Local racer speeds to comeback victory

If you spot 16-year-old Braxton Terry driving the streets of Sudbury, chances are he'll be passing you.

That's not to say that the youngster is a reckless driver, but going fast is just in his nature, and that paid off when he claimed first place in the Briggs & Stratton LO206 junior class at the Eastern Canadian Karting Championships in Mont Tremblant, Quebec on Sept. 19 and 20.

Terry is a homegrown Sudbury product, and has been racing karts since he was seven years old, getting his start at Sudbury Kartways on Notre Dame Avenue.

“Racing at the kart track in Sudbury was a really good jumping off point for me,” said Braxton. “It's really affordable at the local level and it's nice to bring this championship back to Sudbury.”

The 16-year-old has been at the wheel of motorized vehicles for nine years now, though he only recently acquired his Ontario driver's licence. Passing his licence test came as no surprise to his father Craig Terry, who says that despite his son's racing acumen, there's still some work to be done away from the track.

“Sometimes I've got to remind him that we're not on the race track when he's driving,” laughed Craig about his son's driving habits.

That need for speed though propelled Braxton to an almost improbable victory in the 2015 racing season, as he entered the final race of his final season as a junior trailing points leader Xavier Dorsnie by 50 points.

Terry grinded out a third place finish on Saturday to keep Dorsnie in his sights and came into Sunday's races with a very clear goal in mind. The teenager secured a fourth place finish in the pre-final while Dorsnie could muster only an 11th place finish, narrowing the gap to just 15 points.

“I had to finish two positions ahead of (Dorsnie) to take the title and that was my goal for the race,” said Terry.

Braxton delivered on his goal, managing a second place finish, while Dorsnie finished fifth, securing the title for Terry.

“My goal going into this season was to try to win the title,” said Terry, “especially with this being my last year racing as a junior.”

Next year Terry will make the jump to the senior circuit, driving against much older and more experienced drivers, but Terry has all of his focus on racing karts right now with aspirations of one day driving formula cars.

His father explains that while racing may have an image of being a big money sport, it doesn't differ much from any other sport.

“It's no more expensive than hockey and like in a lot of sports you start out locally,” said Craig. “We support Sudbury Kartways wholeheartedly they have a great thing going at the local level, they offer arrive and drive races so you don't need to own your own kart.”

Craig went on to explain that racing, like many other sports, requires that a decision be made of what path athletes want to follow once they reach the competitive level.

“Braxton used to race snow cross and he broke his wrist doing that when he was 12, so that's when we kind of said ok, after this injury heals up I think we'll focus on kart racing,” he said.

With a season title under his belt Braxton plans to take some down time to focus on school and relax, though he acknowledges the need to keep himself in race shape for next year.

“There's size and weight restrictions with the karts, so you do have to keep yourself fit,” said Braxton.

“You also need to be in shape to handle a 300-pound kart.”

Terry's results from the past season can be found at canadiankartingnews.com and you can check out his team (K&K Racing) Facebook page.