Just 18 months after hopping in his first go-kart, Littleton driver Derek DesLauriers parked in Victory Lane at the Kid Kart Nationals. His triumph Aug. 1 in St. Louis earned him The Denver Post’s Youth Excellence in Sports award for August.
Derek, a third-grader at Ute Meadows Elementary, won the Junior 206 class (ages 5-7) national championship by 7.011 seconds over runner-up Harry Coulton of Connecticut. The winner’s top speed on the .55-mile St. Louis Karting Association course was 38.833 mph.
“It was very cool,” said the 4-foot-1 Derek. “It was a huge trophy, almost as tall as me.”
Derek, who turned 8 on March 4, also finished fourth in his age group’s unlimited class despite spinning out midway through the race. Both races featured 14 laps, and Derek produced the top lap time, overall time and highest speed of the 33 competitors.
Marc DesLauriers, Derek’s father, introduced his son to karting on his seventh birthday in March 2009.
“He has always really loved cars — Hot Wheels, NASCAR, anything on wheels — so for his birthday I got him a $50 gift certificate to do 10 laps at Action Karting at Bandimere Speedway, and he loved it,” Marc said. “He did the 10 laps and couldn’t stop talking about it.
“The track gave us information about the Colorado Junior Karting Club, and they had a new member orientation, and before we knew it, we met with the club and bought a kart. He was racing two weeks later.”
Derek was ninth in his first trip to Kid Kart Nationals a year ago in Reno, Nev.
“It’s going to be the sport I’ll do for a long time. It’s very fun,” Derek said. “You meet a lot of new friends and it’s kind of like (racing) motorcycles. You have a practice session, qualifying, a heat race and then a main. And I like to go fast and race my friends.”
Marc, 45, grew up racing motocross in Southern California. His son wants to grow up to be a NASCAR driver. His favorite driver? Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“I just like him,” Derek said.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
