An Okotoks go-kart driver did all he could this year to combat the stereotypes surrounding teenage drivers.
Fifteen-year-old Okotokian Bradley Dezall made a seamless jump into the Senior division of the Western Canadian Championship go-kart circuit earning a poll-position in August and finishing second overall in the Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC) season standings.
“It’s a pretty big thing for my first year in Senior, beating all these guys that have raced all these years and you’re 15,” Bradley said of his poll position. “It’s a lot of competition and it’s faster, the Seniors are faster and it’s just harder to win.”
The Senior division is open to anyone 15 or over and features competitors in their teens as well as those in their 60s.
“A lot of the guys he was racing at have gone to the worlds multiple times,” said Bradley’s father, Rob. “And he was right there with those guys so it’s pretty exciting.”
Bradley was in contention for the CKRC Senior Rotax title in a championship that came down to one last race on Sept. 16.
A fifth place finish on the final Sunday, due in part to a violent two-car crash that severely damaged the car in the previous day of racing, put the 15-year-old one point away from the overall title.
Prior to this season Bradley was a prolific racer in the Junior 2 Rotax division featuring 12 to 15 year-olds.
With six years under his belt, Bradley is a seasoned veteran on the track already and a driving force for his younger sisters Jessica and Christina getting their start in go-kart racing, soon to be joined by the baby in the family, seven-year-old Ryan.
“We will actually have four racing next year,” Rob said. “I always liked racing, my dad raced (stock cars) when I was a little kid.”
It’s a trait Rob passed down to his children. “In other words, if we’re not racing we’re watching the Nascar race,” Bradley added.
Jessica, 13, won her second consecutive division title at the Calgary Kart Racing Club. Last year she was the first girl to win the Junior 1 Honda championship and again finished first in 2012, her rookie season, in the Rotax Mini-Max division for 10-13-year-olds.
Jessica was agonizingly close to doubling her season championships with a first-overall finish in the Junior 2 four-cycle championship. The final lap determined the championship.
“She lost by one point and it came down to pretty much the third-last corner,” Rob said. “She didn’t quite get the pass and he got the win and that was it.”
Ten-year-old Christina finished in second-place in the Junior Honda 1 four-cycle division and was second in the Junior 1 four-cycle’s division of the Western Canadian Championship.
The Dezall racing team also ventured south to take part in the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas, a six-race series in California and Arizona featuring the best of the best from North America.
For more information go to ckrc.com.
