By Jerry Jordan, Editor
It had been several months since Ryder Wells sat behind the wheel of his No. 24 kart but it was obvious he hadn’t forgotten the path to Victory Lane.
Wells was making the step up to micro-sprints a couple of weeks ago at Golden Triangle Raceway Park over the Labor Day weekend and had some good runs in practice and his heat race. But heading into Turn 1, he was wiped out by another racer, who overshot the corner and caused over $1,000 in damage to his machine.
At 12-years-old, Wells is known on the karting circuits as being a formidable opponent – he is the defending Louisiana State Champion – but he’d taken time off to practice and prepare the micro-sprint only to have a disastrous night. So, after spending weeks fixing that ride, he and his dad/crew chief (Zach Wells) decided at the last minute they would enter a kart race over the weekend in Lake Charles.
Wells went out on the track like he had something to prove. This was a chance to show his micro-sprint outing wouldn’t set him back and that it didn’t matter what he was driving, he’d wheel it to Victory Lane. And that is exactly what he did.
In his Junior 2 racing class, Wells won all of his heat races and the feature. But that wasn’t enough for Wells, who also had entered the adult class. He would go on to bring home a few heat race wins and then end the night in second for the feature event.
He said after the race, tire issues probably kept him from taking first his the final adult feature of the night as the kart became increasingly hard to handle throughout the race.
“I ended up doing good with the first and second place finishes,” he said. “My dad got my tires just a little bit too soft but we did good.”
Because he stepped up to race in the adult class, he was required to add about 45-pounds of weight to his car, as well. It was a fair handicap considering his overall size advantage versus the adults in the field. Wells said he was happy to get back behind the wheel of his kart but he is really looking forward to taking out the micro-sprint and having a chance to open it up for a good race.
As any great racer would do, Wells, took time to thank his sponsors, too. He said he was very appreciative of the support he receives from his family, Golden Triangle Raceway Park, Kickin’ the Tires, and Danny Youngblood.