Area duo shines on go-kart tracks

MANITOWOC — As the hum of 100cc engines fills the air, nearly 30 four-wheeled bundles of energy build momentum toward the starting line.

Appearing to hover just inches off the ground, the noise grows as accelerators are shoved down and the field — bunched tightly two-by-two — takes the green flag, speeds down the straightaway and toward the first corner.

"It's really scary going into the first corner," said Joel Jens, 11, of Manitowoc.

"You're all bunched up, going two-wide, doing 60 or 70, it gets ugly pretty fast," said Sage Wallace, 13, also of Manitowoc.

Such is the experience of a go-kart racer.

Both Manitowoc youths race regularly at USA International Raceway near Shawano — which recently hosted a national go-kart event that both racers were a part of — and both race out of Stock's X-Factor Racing through Stock's Harley Davidson of Manitowoc.

Wallace has been racing karts since the age of 10, while Jens joined the sport last season when both drivers were in the HPV Junior Sportsman class.

This year, Wallace has moved up to the HPV Juniors — go-kart racing is split up by engine classes (two and four cycles), age groups and weight — and is continuing to do something he truly enjoys.

"The adrenaline rush. That's probably the best part about it," Wallace said. "I had always been watching racing on TV and thought that's what I want to do. I wanted to be a race car driver."

Wallace got started racing with his dad, Chris, running a four-cycle go-kart at the Karting Kettles in Elkhart Lake. And the younger Wallace took to the sport immediately.

"His first race, he won both heats and took second in the feature — his very first night out," said Chris Wallace. "I bought a used kart for him and myself to do it together. We did it immediately that year, and later on in the year I bought a two-stroke HPV and started racing on my own up at Shawano."

The following year, the elder Wallace purchased a two-cycle go-kart for Sage to race up at Shawano. It was also around the time he met Dave Herrmann, the general manager of Stock's Harley Davidson, and found out the store known for its Harley Davidson motorcycles was also interested in go-karts.

"We got involved here, actually just really for the fun of it. I knew I would enjoy it and the owner, Dave Stock, knew he would enjoy it so we kind of got in it at the very bottom level not having any experience in it at all," Herrmann said. "We got the karts in and we set them up and went out and had some fun and thought we had them set up right and we didn't. Chris came along and said you have to do this, this, this and this and it will be a lot better and we tried that it made it better," Hermann added.

That began a partnership between Stock's and the elder Wallace, who was still racing his own go-kart.

But in trying to maintain his own go-kart and help his son improve his racing skills, it got to be too much to handle. So Chris Wallace jumped out of the car and focused solely on his son's racing.

"It just got to be too much for me," Chris Wallace said. "And when I hopped out and just started working with Sage, he improved dramatically."

According to www.sagewallace.com, Wallace was the HPV Junior Track Champion and won the Most Improved Driver Award at USA International Raceway in 2005, and then won the 2-Cycle Junior Track Championship and won the 2-Cycle Fast Time Award at the track last year.

"I guess I wanted to stay in it whether I was good at it or not," said Sage Wallace, whose Web site also lists Calibre and Dental City as sponsors, along with Stock's Harley Davidson and Stock's X-Factor Racing. "It's just something I wanted to do."

And with his dad staying off the track, the sponsorship from Stock's switched to the younger Wallace.

"Chris was the initial sponsorship and he asked if I could turn that into Sage being sponsored and (we said yes)," Herrmann said. "I figured that's the least that I can do with Chris coming in and helping us out so much."

Jens also got started with the help of his father, Mark, however, he wasn't following his parent on the track.

"I was at Stock's looking at go-karts for a long time and my dad would never get me one," Joel Jens said. "Then, for my birthday, he got me a go-kart and I just really wanted to race."

While racing up at USA International Raceway, the two Manitowoc drivers got to know each other and both Chris and Sage helped out Mark and Joel, respectively.

With the fathers, the assistance came in how to set up the go-kart for racing, while Sage gave Joel a first-hand look at how to run the track.

"Joel took a liking to it by following Sage," Mark Jens said. "Joel had the ability to pick it up at a faster rate because he was out there running behind someone who knows what they're doing. That helped a lot."

The two have been working together — with each having success — ever since.

"I enjoy seeing Joel succeed and seeing the things I've been able to teach Joel and his father and seeing Joel make those steps to the point where, at the club level, he's at the same level Sage was at last year," Chris Wallace said. "I enjoy being able to pass that information and help those if they want it."

Both drivers plan to continue to run the regular schedule USA International Raceway, which runs from April until October, this season as well as different Midwest Series and national series events throughout the Midwest.

One of those events came to Shawano in June where Jens turned in an impressive showing.

Despite having just a year of experience, Jens qualified seventh in his class, placed seventh in the pre-final and finished ninth out of 27 drivers overall.

"I really didn't think I was going to do that well," Jens said. "It was fun. I was just driving by myself and I got lucky when a couple people spun out."

But there's been more to racing than just turning laps on a track.

Both Mark and Joel Jens said Joel's grades in school have improved since taking up racing — "My dad says I have to work hard in school to race," Joel said, — and it also allows the families to spend time together, whether at the tracks, driving to a race or working on the karts.

"I think racing definitely carries over to being with family," Sage Wallace said. "The whole reason my dad and I got into was father-son bonding time."

And the thrill of charging down a straight-away at 75 mph, with a couple of dozen other drivers isn't bad either.
By Steve Clark
Herald Times Reporter