Go Speed Racer, go!

Don’t look now, but Plymouth has a 10-year-old racing champion.

Christian Sarnecki is spinning around tracks at lightning speed in a go-kart. But, it’s not your average go-kart, the kind you see at a birthday party for a kid his age.

No, Sarnecki is going up to 70 miles per hour in a high-end model called a CRG Italian kart chassis. The one he just used in winning the SSC East Rotax MiniMax Outdoor Kart Racing Series in Bridgewater.

And the one his folks decided to buy because of Christian’s passion for the sport.

“We decided to make an investment in his own go-kart,” said his mother, Lori Sarnecki. “He’s got such a passion for racing.”

An avid racing enthusiast, Christian Sarnecki aspires to be a professional endurance auto racer like the men who take part in the famous 24 hours of LeMans and the Rolex 24 of Daytona races.

Sarnecki won the recent youth kart competition, despite missing the first five events amid a series of 11 races, which started in May. Sarnecki’s kart wasn’t ready for competition at that point, so the youngster entered the fray in August, already behind his seven other opponents in points in the 10-12 year-old age group.

The victory sure made his mom proud.

“He was one of the few rookies in the group, and even after missing the first five races, he was consistent enough to win even among the veterans, the ones who have raced in this competition before,” Lori Sarnecki said.

Christian Sarnecki hopes to take his expertise to the next level in the Northeast Rotax Max Challenge.

“[The Rotax MiniMax] was a stepping stone to go into the northeast region [event],” Lori Sarnecki said.

Meanwhile, Christian Sarnecki is scheduled to be featured on the Discovery Science Channel in January, 2011 with his instructor, fellow Plymouth resident, and three-time national kart champion Arie Ouimet. Ouimet, 19, recently competed in the national auto racing Volkswagen Jetta Cup Series, for which he qualified after attaining national kart champion status.

On the Discovery show, Ouimet and Sarnecki will drive in their own karts.

“The purpose [of that segment] is to show Arie passing the baton to the younger generation of racers,” Lori Sarnecki said. “Arie kind of chose Christian as his protégé, and became friendly with him. And they wanted to have someone with a serious background in it to accompany Arie on the show.”

Christian Sarnecki’s affinity for cars goes back to age two. Part of the attraction was that his dad, Steven, had a background in auto racing, and, at 44, still races in adult go-kart competitions. At a very young age, Christian already was attending auto racing events and watching them with his dad on television.

“He’d be watching cars in front of our windows naming the models,” Lori Sarnecki said of Christian.

Now that her son is in the game for real, of course, she worries about the dangers of racing. Be she is more concerned he reaches his potential in the sport he loves most.

“Of course, I have safety concerns. But my greater concern is my son’s dream and to support him in his dream,” Lori Sarnecki said. ‘The racing requirements for safety are high. I want to support him. He also learns to make rapid decisions and to focus. As a mother, I worry, but I also worry about him not meeting the potential he’s supposed to reach if not given the chance, so I support him.”