Tasker Gets Sets For His Biggest Task
AKA press release
A chance meeting by his mother to an old family friend has changed the way Charleston’s Jordan Tasker looks at the world of motorsport, he’s no longer just a fan - he’s a racer.
Since having his first kart race in February, the 12 year-old Adelaide Hills resident has changed the family weekend’s and they’re now filled up by travelling across the state racing karts.
Above: Adelaide Hills youngster Jordan Tasker will contest his first state championship at Monarto this weekend. Pic: photowagon.com.au
“I came home from seeing an old family friend who’s children raced karts and told my husband that we needed to sell the dirt bikes so Jordan can go race karts,” said Jodi Tasker.
“Since then our Sunday morning sleep ins have been a thing of the past but we’ve already made some great friends and we really enjoy the whole atmosphere of the sport.”
For young Jordan, who is still four years away from obtaining his road licence but is already driving at speeds close to 100 km/h on the kart track, he loves going fast and meeting new people but also the thrill of success.
“I love going fast and have made a lot of mates, we all have fun racing and then we muck around when we’re not racing – it’s a lot of fun,” said Jordan, who will this weekend be competing in the Rookies category at the Dunlop South Australian Championships.
While the thrill and fun is what drives the Hills Christian Community School Year six student the valuable lessons that he learns on and off the track is what has his mother excited the most.
“It’s funny most Mums wouldn’t even think of seeing their young child race around the track at the speeds they do but it is a relatively safe sport and the kids seem to develop a lot of skills from the sport,” said Jodi.
“We hear a lot about the young drivers on the roads these days but from what I can see already from Jordan, and what I see from the older kids, they learn a lot about car control and driving techniques at a young age and the fact that the track is for racing and the road is for driving.”
Tasker will be one of 19 youngsters aged between ten and 12 years of age competing in the Rookies category at this weekend’s event being hosted by the Dublin Kart Club at the Monarto Karting Complex near Murray Bridge.
It will be his first State Championship and will be up against the likes of the best South Australian drivers, including Upper Sturt’s Rhys Wooley and Tyler Morrison who won the Western Australian Championship last month, and some of the best youngsters from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia.
This is the first time that the State Championships have been held at the Monarto Karting Complex with close to 250 competitors set to line up across the 14 categories that cater for different ages, weights and engine capacities.
Practice for the championships began today ahead of qualifying on Friday followed by the heat races on Saturday and the championship finals on Sunday.
The Monarto Karting Complex is located on the Old Princess Highway, Monarto.
