By Charlene Macaulay
He’s not old enough to have a learner driver permit, but 14-year-old Jake Berias is a champion drag racer.
The Werribee resident is a third-generation competitor, with both his grandfather and dad being former drag racers.
“Now I’m in the racing seat,” he said.
Jake first jumped behind the wheel when he was 11 and found the experience to be a pure adrenaline rush.
“As soon as the engine started, you feel the vibration going through your body and as soon as you hit the pedal it throws you back into your seat and it’s like, ‘Hold on, we’re going for a ride’,” he said.
Jake started competing soon after through the Victorian Drag Racers Club and now drives a 2016 Motivational Junior Dragster.
The year 9 Werribee Secondary College student scooped up two national Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series titles in the past month, taking out the Nitro Up North competition in Darwin and following it up with the Desert Nationals in Alice Springs.
“At race meetings, you’re friends with the other racers when you’re not in the car, but as soon as you’ve got that helmet on, the friendship line just stops,” he said.
“Hopefully, I can become good enough in the bigger leagues and hopefully somehow make my way to America, because over there they do it for a job and they’re racing there every week.
“I’d love to do that for a job.”
