{"id":32727,"date":"2013-05-10T23:29:53","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T13:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=32727"},"modified":"2020-12-18T14:41:12","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T04:41:12","slug":"young-gun-is-number-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/05\/10\/young-gun-is-number-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Gun Is Number One"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Charlie Ploetz … the Cadet D Grade Young Gun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 10, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charlie Ploetz is only eight but he’s already a champion on the racetrack after just seven races.<\/p>\n

Charlie, from Kingaroy, took out the Young Gun Title – one of the biggest junior karting competitions in Australia – at Lismore in NSW last weekend.<\/p>\n

And who did he beat? \u00a0Only Jett Johnson (grandson of the legendary Dick Johnson) and Seth Crump (son of three-times world speedway champion Jason Crump).<\/p>\n

The Young Gun Titles attracts about 170 drivers in eight classes, ranging in age from 7-years-old to 16-years-old.<\/p>\n

Charlie competed in the Cadets P Plate class which he dominated against much more experienced competition.<\/p>\n

In fact, he lost only one race across the weekend of racing … after he spun out in the pre-final while he was in the lead. But he quickly made up for it, working his way back through the field to 3rd position and setting a best lap time only 0.1 off the record in the process.<\/p>\n

The spin meant he started the final in third spot on the grid, but he won by 1.8 seconds against drivers up to two years older than him.<\/p>\n

Proud dad Peter Ploetz said Charlie only started racing in February this year but he’s already brought home five trophies from seven meetings.<\/p>\n

“He’s a natural, it’s amazing,” Peter said.<\/p>\n

And that’s on the basis of little practice. The nearest kart track that he can use is in Toowoomba; \u00a0many of his rivals practice regularly at the tracks where they’re racing.<\/p>\n

Charlie’s 80cc Italian-built “Tony” kart has a top speed of 85km\/h and races only centimetres off the ground, but Charlie isn’t scared. He’s been riding quad bikes since he was two.<\/p>\n

Peter said Charlie had received a lot of help from another Kingaroy resident, Howard Williams whose son Chris is a go-kart racer.<\/p>\n

“A Kingaroy boy helping a Kingaroy boy,” Peter said. “Chris volunteered his time to come down to Lismore and help. He was a huge help.”<\/p>\n

Charlie’s hero is V8 Supercar driver Craig Lowndes – whom he has met – and he hopes one day to be following in his tyre tracks.<\/p>\n

If he keeps on going the way he’s started, that day could be just around the corner …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlie Ploetz is only eight but he’s already a champion on the racetrack after just seven races.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":32728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,66,6],"tags":[1137],"yoast_head":"\nYoung Gun Is Number One - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/05\/10\/young-gun-is-number-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Young Gun Is Number One - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Charlie Ploetz is only eight but he's already a champion on the racetrack after just seven races.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/05\/10\/young-gun-is-number-one\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-10T13:29:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-18T04:41:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/20130509charlie.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/05\/10\/young-gun-is-number-one\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/05\/10\/young-gun-is-number-one\/\",\"name\":\"Young Gun Is Number One - 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