By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

In only her second time competing at the track, Heather “The Heat” Hadley, 10, took fifth place overall Aug. 11 at the Kinsmen Kart Club in Dixon.

“She started 16th, by her own choice,” her father, Damon, said.

Starting 16th meant starting last.

The race is set up in two eight-lap heats and one 12-lap main event. For the first heat, Heather moved up from 16th to 10th; in the second she moved from 10th to eighth; and in the main event she rose from eighth to finish fifth.

Not too shabby.

There was even a little excitement during the main event: a five-Kart pileup that Heather had to navigate past. At that point she was in fourth place.

But since the Vallejo native is still a newcomer to the track, she slowed down when she saw the yellow flag being waved, allowing Clayton Williams to pass her for fourth.

“That was track knowledge,” Damon Hadley said. “(Williams) knows that as long as the Karts are off the track, he can go full bore, even though there’s somebody waving a yellow. We didn’t know that.

“Clayton, in our opinion, is the best kid on the track. We would have loved to see how that little battle would have unfolded.”

The track at the Kinsmen is three-tenths of a mile in length, with five turns. Heather runs it right around 33 seconds, her father said.

Being new to the track, and to Karting in general — having been doing it for less than a year — means a fifth-place finish is impressive, Damon Hadley said. “The boys that were on the podium with her have a minimum three years’ racing experience,” he said. “Heather has six months with her Kart, and was in her second race.

“It’s incredible what she did.”

Though the competition on the track can be fierce, the atmosphere among the drivers and their families is very friendly. “They’re really nice,” Heather said. “One kid was very complimentary.”

Damon Hadley observed that the families of kids who race are very involved.

“People take their kids to the track, and they’re with their kids. They’re involved,” he said.

“Of course it is a great atmosphere when your kids can go to the track with friends that are all doing the same thing. You get on the track together, you get off the track together, they’re having a great time. They’re talking about what they’re doing on the track. It’s really interesting to just stand back and just admire it. It’s wonderful.”

To get a better sense of what his daughter finds so appealing about racing Go-Karts, Damon Hadley recently took a racing class during a breast cancer charity event in Sonoma. It gave him a greater respect for what the kids do.

“Now I understand why she is just giddy and loves this! It’s a lot of fun.”

He said watching Heather in June with Phil Joy, the Legends race car driver was impressed by the young girl’s driving. “When he went up to the track and watched Heather, and she came flying down the straightaway to the first turn, Phil goes, ‘She’s not going to make that turn’ and she whips a U-turn and he goes ‘What?’ He was sold,” Damon Hadley said.

“I’m very comfortable with her focus — she’s into it.”

Heather returns to the Kinsmen Kart Club, 4813 Cook Lane, Dixon, this Saturday for night races. For more information, visit www.kinsmenkartclub.net.