Need for speed

South Berwick teen kickin’ up dust as rookie racer

Kyle Bent is showing his competition at Valley Raceway that age is only a number.

The 14-year-old South Berwick resident is third in the standings eight races into his first season at the dirt racetrack in Melvern Square. He’s the youngest driver at the track, but is already proving to be one to watch while racing his blue, Chevy Cavalier in the four-cylinder class.

“The first race I did I was getting lapped, and the last race I did I was lapping people,” said Kyle.

He turned to James Graves, former sportsman car racer at the paved Scotia Speedworld track in Enfield, for tips early in the season.

“He helped quite a bit,” the Grade 9 Central Kings Rural High School student said.

“Before I was going wide open into the corners and… if you take the corners slower, you get more momentum going.”

He admits he may have learned to ease up on the gas heading into a corner the hard way after rolling four times in his first race.

See Teen Driver, A3

ASHLEY thompson Kyle Bent, 14, continues to rise closer to the top of the standings during his first season competing at the valley Raceway’s dirt track in Melvern Square.