Oddie races to big things on kart track

NINE-year-old Harrison Oddie loves nothing better than racing around the Cooloola Kart Track and he will be back there again this weekend trying to take the chequered flag.

NINE-year-old Harrison Oddie loves nothing better than racing around the Cooloola Kart Track and he will be back there again this weekend trying to take the chequered flag.

The Victory College student has only been racing for 15 months and has been steadily progressing up the ranks, winning his first event at Bundaberg in February.

Oddie is starting to make the top three regularly at both the Cooloola and Bundaberg race tracks in his midget class Arrow kart.

He said the installation of a new Italian Comer engine into his kart helped lift his results in the large midget field.

“I like winning and speed,”Oddie said.

His kart already has the nine year old reaching speeds of 65kmp/h on the tight bitumen tracks and he says the “most fun part” is driving over the ripple strips.

The young driver has a plenty of ambition saying he would like to be a V8 Supercar Driver or better still a Formula One open wheeler driver.

“My goal is to race sprint cars in the USA or maybe Indy or Formula One,” he said.

Oddie's family has only lived in Gympie for a 18 months and emigrated from Christchurch, New Zealand just on four years ago.

It hasn't taken the youngster long to settle in to the Cooloola track and he will be improving his racing skills again this weekend as the Cooloola Kart Club puts on another big weekend of racing.

Oddie has an extensive race calendar ahead of him this season, competing in two club championships, five race meetings over four months with the Supa Cheap Series, the Young Guns at Lismore and the Queensland Bitumen Championship at the Cooloola track in July.

Originally published as Oddie races to big things on kart track