Reed LeDuc continues family legacy with first short course win

The LeDucs are a decorated household in the off-road world: Curt LeDuc is a 2015 Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee who has raced in events ranging from the Dakar Rally and SCORE International to short course, his son Kyle LeDuc has over 100 victories in short course racing and won in Extreme E last week, and Kyle’s brother Todd is a Monster Jam star. On Saturday, Kyle’s nine-year-old son Reed joined the family heritage of success as he won the Championship Off-Road Short Course Kart race at ERX Motor Park.

LeDuc, in his second season of short course racing, entered Saturday as the Short Course Karts points leader and riding a four-race streak of runner-up finishes. After starting sixth and quickly clearing Friday winner Carter Zahara, he chased down Race Visser before making his move on the inside with less than six minutes remaining. Visser was eliminated from contention when he hit a berm serving as the median for the lane split, which left LeDuc fending off Zahara and Gavin Plummer.

The top three quickly pulled away from the rest of the field, with fourth-placed Jax Romenesko being over sixteen seconds behind LeDuc. Plummer took second from Zahara on the final lap and caught the leader’s bumper, but could not complete the overtake.

In his podium interview, which is significantly shorter for youth drivers rather than their older counterparts for obvious reasons, LeDuc described the feeling of victory as “really good”, concurred when asked if he felt “today would be the day” he finally won upon taking the lead, and added “the whoop-de-doos” were his favourite section of the track.

“We have won allot of races and I remember my first even, but now I know what my dad felt like back in 2003 when I won my first race,” his father posted on Instagram. “It’s an amazing feeling to know the work he had dedicated and we have all dedicated along with some great sponsors has paid off. Great weekend for the rising star!!”

While Reed went home with second- and first-place medals, Kyle finished sixth and ninth in the weekend’s two Pro 4 races. The older LeDuc was in contention for much of both races before a flat tyre killed his chances in the first, while his dramatic battle with C.J. Greaves in the second ended with a DNF after suffering damage on an awkward landing during the penultimate lap.

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