A remarkable ride
13-year-old on track to win two points titles in first full season racing motorcycles in Niagara
Motorcycles run full throttle in Taia Little’s family.
From time to time, they have been known to go very fast.
Her dad Paul Little used to race motorcycles in the Expert class and her uncles Brandon and Tyler Seguin still compete regularly in Open Expert at Welland County Speedway.
Given her long association with flat-track racing, from Saturday night’s spent in the pits with her family to afternoons practising on her grandfather Glen Little’s farm, it was no surprise when the 13-year-old from Welland opted to fill a need for speed on two wheels rather than four.
“It’s fun to go fast,” she said with a smile, summing up what brings her to the track week after week.
Little, one of three girls racing regularly in 85 cc and one of two in 250 Novice, is finding it “fun to beat boys.”
She said being a girl doesn’t give her preferential treatment from the boys in the starting lineup.
“No, not really,” she said with a laugh.
Little, who in September is going into Grade 8 at Diamond Trail Public School, so far is proving to be as fast a racer as she is a learner. Perhaps, even faster. She is heading into the final program on this summer’s racing schedule at the Welland track leading the points race in the 85-cc and Youth 250 Novice divisions.
Little’s first-place finish in Saturday night’s 250 Novice feature was her seventh victory in eight starts this season and gave her the points championship with one week to spare.
She is all but assured of taking the track title in 85 cc. With riders earning 23 points for a win, 20 for a second, all the way down to 12 points for finishing ninth, Little leads fellow Wellander Blake Silenzi by 19 points.
Little, who is in her first season racing full time, is ahead of schedule when it comes to achieving her goals. She came into the year hoping to crack the top three in each division after placing ninth in 250 Novice and 12th in 85 cc while competing on a part-time basis in 2016.
Except for much more experience competing in race conditions, Little can’t point to anything in particular that has made her sophomore season so successful.
“What’s gone right? Everything,” she said.
Little didn’t just show up one night at the track and began racing in a qualifying heat. She logged a lot of hours on a 100-cc motorcycle before competing in her first race.
“Last year I practised everyday at my Papa’s,” she said, referring to her grandfather’s farm on Forks Road.
Like all flat-track racers Little wears a steel boat on her left foot that acts as an all-important stablizing force rounding into corners.
“It’s just there in case your back wheel slides out, so you can catch yourself,” she said.
When to use the foot, and how exactly to use it, is all part of the racing strategy.
“It depends if the track is dry or tacky,” Little said. “If it’s tacky, than your shoe will probably grab and it will kick you.
“If it’s dry, then it will just drag beside you, which is OK.”
She intends to stay in 250 Novice and hopes to begin racing in 450 Novice next summer.
Silenzi and Chris Pittaway of Selkirk, Ont., rounded out the top three in Saturday’s 250 Novice feature, while Silenzi, Little and Pittaway were 1-2-3 in 85 cc.
Hunter Bauer of Chippawa, in his second back in action after suffering an injury in a race early in the season, won 450 Novice feature after finishing fifth the week before.
Rodrick Scott, Wainfleet; and Logan Wilson, Rockwood; were the top also-rans. With a 163-143 lead over Scott, Wilson has the points title all but wrapped up.
Wilson also is the pace-setter in the Open Novice points race heading into the Saturday, Sept. 9, season finale, but he only leads 154145.
Robert Green of Port Colborne, with 144 points; also remains in the running for a track championship.
Wilson, Bauer and Scott were the first three across the finish line Saturday night.
Closest points races are 450 Expert and 450 Open. Chris Evans of Jordan Station, coupled with a third-place finish by Dustin Brown of Muskoka, has Brown leading Evans 146-145.
On Saturday Evans finished second and Brown placed fifth squeezing Brown’s lead over Evans to 142141.
Doug Lawrence of Mississauga won the feature.
Also on track to take two titles this season, is Welland’s Josh Dolan. He finished second to Ancaster’s Matty Ward in Saturday night’s feature narrowing his points lead in Open Intermediate to 158-146. Welland’s Dustin Lambert is third in standings, with 145 points.
Dolan also trailed Ward across the finish line in the 450 Intermediate main event and shrunk his lead over Ward in that points race to 159-153.
Following are the top-three finishers from the other features on Saturday’s programs, as well as the top three in points:
Veterans: race, Sam Manyon, Akron, Ohio; John Kehoe, Oakville; Kim Orosz, Port Colborne; points, Manyon, 158; Chris Murray, St. Catharines, 138; Orosz, 130.
65 cc: race, Maguire Scott, Welland; Pittaway; Cole Guignard, Stevensville; points, Scott, 170; Guignard, 145; Pittaway, 144. 50 cc, chain drive: race, Liam Caskie, Brantford; Seth Parsons, Jayda Brauweiler; points, Caskie, 161; Brauweiler, 131; Parsons, 111. ATV Open: race, Jeff Chandler, Carrying Place, Ont.; Chuck Graham, Embrun, Ont.; Brandon Doucette, Vineland; points, Graham, 146; Kris Boothby, Huntsville, 124; Ben Shoalts, Wainfleet, 85.
ATV Production: race, Boothby, Graham, Chandler; points, Boothby, 135; Graham, 120; Mickie Vance, Fort Erie, 99.