Local teenager Braxton Regan has swapped a promising football career for the thrills of go-kart racing.
The 13-year-old from Castlereagh only took up the high-octane sport a little over 12 months ago, but his raw talent is already getting people talking all over Australia.
Braxton had been playing football since he was six when one day he and his dad went to a local go-karting facility to have a bit of fun.
That spin around the track with his old man lit a fire inside Braxton that he hadn’t felt while competing ever before.
The pair decided to take their new-found love of racing to the next level, entering an amateur race together where the youngster performed strongly.
“He picked it up really quickly against kids who have been racing a long time,” Braxton’s father Jake told the Weekender.
“We were doing football on Saturdays and racing on Sundays for a while but last year we decided to take the gamble and go all in on racing and join a professional race team.
“We haven’t looked back!”
With experienced racing outfit Tom Williamson Motorsport behind him, Braxton has quickly become one of the rising stars on the Australian go-karting scene, recently taking out several major events.
In March, Braxton was crowned Victorian State Champion, a title that saw him carry the prestigious blue number plate during the opening round of the Australian Kart Championship recently.
Competing at Todd Road in Port Melbourne, the Year 8 Penola Catholic College student overcame a field of 75 of the nation’s best junior karters to secure victory in the highly competitive KA3 Junior class.
With four rounds remaining in the Championship, Braxton’s been touted as a “serious contender” for the title despite coming up against karters two to three years his senior
“I am surprised I’ve picked it up so quickly. I just love speeding around the track and overtaking people is cool,” Braxton told the Weekender.
“Winning has felt good and it’s a feeling I want to keep chasing.”
Despite his relative infancy in the sport, Braxton’s go-karting prowess has already taken him all over the country and he’ll be in South Australia next Friday when he lines up in Round 2 of the Australian Kart Championship.
Braxton said he wouldn’t be where he is today without the support of his parents, high school and of course, Tom Williamson Motorsport.
“There’s a lot of race crafting you have to understand, like how to overtake professionally, how to defend, and how to keep the pace on the apexes – that’s where the professional race team comes in,” he said.
“I practice every single week either on the track or on the racing simulator. One day I’d love to move into something like Formula 1.”
You can keep up with Braxton’s go-karting journey by following his Instagram account @braxtonregan_racing.
Nathan Taylor
Nathan Taylor is the Weekender's Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.