28th March 2015

Good friends not afraid to mix it up at speed on the track - From the Daily Mercury

Karting teammates Jayden Muir and Nicholas Garioch will contest the Mackay Kart Club’s Sugar City Titles today and tomorrow. (Pic: Tony Martin)

They’ve been racing each other as teammates on the track for almost three years but they’re still good friends.

Jayden Muir will race Nicholas Garioch this weekend in the Mackay Kart Club’s Sugar City Titles.

Nicholas said it was tough racing against his friend.

“It’s been good we’ve had some close battles,” he said.

Nicholas is Jayden’s Pirtek teammate. “It’s pretty tough sometimes,” 12-year-old Jayden said.

Jayden has won the past two junior Mackay Kart Championships, narrowly beating Nicholas. Right now though, Nicholas, 13, is ahead by the narrowest of margins – one point.

“Last year at Townsville we were nose-to-tail nearly the whole way,” Nicholas said when asked about their closest race. Unfortunately for him Jayden came out on top.

Although they are not close to getting their driver’s licences, in their go-karts they sit just inches off the ground and can get up to speeds of 100km/h.

Club publicity officer David Sturgeon said the Sugar City Titles was the club’s first big event of the year.

“It’s always good competition that weekend,” he said. “You get other guys from out of town that are learning the track, and the faster guys from Mackay are up the front mixing it with those guys.”

The club is expecting people from Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns for the two-day meet.

Sturgeon said it was great to see Nicholas and Jayden going head-to-head.

“It’s a good, friendly rivalry, they’re good mates off the track and they don’t often clash on the track, they race clean and if they can’t beat them fair and square they don’t want to do it,” he said.

Nicholas’s dad Craig said it was great to see his son and Jayden racing hard against each other.

“They’re not scared of passing each other and racing hard on the track, that’s for sure,” he said.