Go kart racing with Valentino Flores

Eleven-year-old Woodmere resident Valentino Flores seems like any ordinary middle school student at first glance. Good grades, plays soccer after school and video games in his free time.

But when it comes to one passion in particular, he shifts into another gear. “I saw a commercial of this place up in Farmingdale called RPM Raceway, and it said ‘Junior league starts next Tuesday’ and I asked my dad the next morning if I could join,” Flores said.

“So what we did is, we joined the league and then after we just kept working from there.” But before he began his career more than a year and a half ago, there was one more stamp of approval he needed. “We asked the chief, his mother, it if was OK for him to race during a school night,” said Omar, 48, Valentino’s father. “She said ‘as long he doesn’t fall behind with his studies, we’ll enroll him,’ and we started from there.”

Even before that, cars held a big place in his life. “Since he was four or five years old, he and I have been going to car shows,” Omar said. “We drive out to OBI (Oak Beach Island), Captree State Park and then we go to events sponsored by Ferrari Maserati of Long Island, we get invited to a lot of these things.”

Valentino started racing indoor karts in a junior league with hardly any karting experience. He managed to place first in the league’s qualifying match against four other children his age with more tenure and ended up finishing second overall at the end of the season.

“When the league ran again in April, he came in first,” Omar said. “The track manager, seeing the potential Valentino has, allowed him to go into non-license before the April league started, and then ultimately to adult. Every time we go, he just improves himself by getting faster times and handling the car better.”

As he gained experience, Valentino posted top lap times on the leaderboards at the track against other drivers even outside his age bracket. “When the more seasoned drivers saw Valentino racing, they came to me saying, ‘You should really explore this and see how far he can go,” Omar said. “This year, we’re focusing more on the outdoor dynamic.”

Fast Flo Racing, the Flores team name, races mainly at Oakland Valley Race Park, a three-quarter-mile asphalt track owned by Geoff Hannen, 50, and his family, in upstate Cuddebackville. Hannen’s brother bought the track more than 10 years ago, and when their father died in April 2016, he decided to become more involved. “There was a hole that needed to be filled and it gave me an opportunity to get closer to my family,” Geoff Hannen said. “It’s [the track] like little league baseball, where families come and spend time in a competitive but friendly environment.”

Valentino is training with Stevan McAleer, a Scottish-born professional race car driver who started out with go-karts. “​I first met Valentino through a friend of a friend at Oakland Valley Race Park in Cuddebackville, and I’ve been working with him for six months now,” McAleer said. “His first lesson with me was outdoors in the pouring rain. I told him it’s the toughest conditions to learn in and very easy to spin. He may have spun 30 times that day and you could see he was blown away with how difficult it was. The best part however is that lesson changed him. He listens, gets faster each time and continues to improve on his lines and technique.”

All of which is present in Valentino’s mind during each race. “When I race, I look at the ground mostly by my foot because one thing I like to do is I like to measure how close I am to the wall with my foot when I’m racing indoors and how close I am to the apex of a turn when I’m racing outdoors,” he said.

At the end of the day, school still comes first in the race of life. “My mom is always on top of me, which is a good thing because I do the racing and she wants to make sure I do my homework,” Valentino said. “I’ve always studied before going to the racetrack and I’m always prepared for tests.”