Speed Freak (18 page)
Authors: Fleur Beale
THE WEEKEND BEFORE
we left for Portugal, I had a sort of farewell event with my friends. We went rock climbing and then ate up large at a pizza place. At the end of the night, they wished me luck and threatened me with injury if I didn’t keep them updated while I was away. Regarding injuries, Dad’s leg was back in business and he was focused on getting us to Portugal. This apparently involved a few minutes telling his second-in-command at work to handle everything in
his absence, and then reading up everything he could get his hands on about kart engines.
We were flying out on Wednesday morning. Erica drove us to the airport. Felix pulled my new suitcase and Dad walked with his arm around Erica. I didn’t mind him doing that now. She was good value.
We did the goodbyes, then went through to the ‘passengers only’ part. We were on our way. I’d won this trip fair and square. I was going to race in Portugal.
STUFF
Wellington teen Archie Barrington has achieved a very creditable thirteenth placing in an international kart-racing competition in Portugal. His final placing was 13th out of 72. ‘I’m very happy with that result,’ Barrington says. ‘The competition was fierce. It’s been a fantastic experience. I was aiming to get into the top 20, so 13th is much better than I’d thought I could do. I’m stoked.’
Huge thanks to all the people who were so generous with their time and patience in answering my questions. Special thanks to: Donna and Ross Lee, Charmaine Jones, Andrew Donohue, Ryan Urban and Kylie, and Don McKenzie.
Fleur Beale is the author of many much-loved
award-winning
books — she has had more than 50 books published in New Zealand, the US and England. Fleur won the Storylines Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book with
Slide the Corner
in 2007, the same award in 2009 for
I Am Not Esther
and the Esther Glen Award for
Juno of Taris
in the 2009 LIANZA Children’s Book Awards.
Fierce September
was the Young Adult Fiction Category Award Winner at the 2011 New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards. Fleur also won the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2012.
I Am Not Esther
A Respectable Girl
The Transformation of Minna Hargreaves
The End of the Alphabet
Juno of Taris
Fierce September
Heart of Danger
Dirt Bomb
The Boy in the Olive Grove
The assistance of Creative New Zealand is gratefully
acknowledged by the author and publisher
A RANDOM HOUSE BOOK published by Random House New Zealand
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First published 2013
© 2013 Fleur Beale
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978 1 77553 470 9
eISBN 978 1 77553 471 6
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Design: Megan van Staden
Cover photograph: iStock (file15467134)
Printed in New Zealand by Printlink
This publication is printed on paper pulp sourced from sustainably grown and managed forests, using Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) bleaching, and printed with 100% vegetable-based inks.