Mount Gambier’s hometown hero Kai Allen, 19, made his official Supercars debut on the weekend as the regional city watched on with bated breath.
The rookie drove car #26 for Penrite Racing in round one of the Repco Supercars 2025 season at the Sydney Motorsport Park for the Thrifty Sydney 500.
The young gun has risen up through the ranks, having started his career in go karting at eight-years-old at the Mount Gambier Go Karting Club at Glenburnie.
“I have come from a small country town and worked my way up. I just started by driving around the Mount Gambier Go Kart Track and never thought I would get to where I am but I just kept chipping along,” Allen said.
“I always just found a way and I was so determined to get to where I am today, so nothing really stopped me.
“A lot of people have followed my journey through the ranks and I have had a lot of support from Mount Gambier as well, so it is pretty cool now to get on the big stage and I have still got a couple of little businesses that are helping me out along the way.
“The support from a little town is really cool and I think it is good just to keep going.
“All my mates and stuff went and watched me on Friday night and supported me and all sent me videos watching me, so it was good to have that support. I absolutely love it.
“People that get behind you and do not question what you want to do and just support you are the ones that you always bring along with you … you always remember them and it is exciting to get there now and give back to people who think it’s too hard.”
Allen said he hopes by following his dream he can show other kids from small towns they can do the same, regardless of where they come from.
“I have got a lot of young kids coming up to me and sort of looking up to me, which is really exciting,” he said.
“I think a lot of the kids see the guys out there doing whatever they’re doing, whether that’s footy or racing cars or whatever and it is interesting to see how a lot of them shut their dreams down because they think it’s too hard.
“I had a lot of people saying that ‘you come from a small country town, no one is going to notice you, no one is going to know who you are’ or ‘you’re not going to make it’ and it’s pretty good to prove people wrong.
“It is a big sacrifice, but I think I would rather be the one grinding away and not have the best opportunities because I think it grows you into a better person.
“If you work for it you earn it I feel and it sort of makes the wins a lot sweeter,” Allen said.
The Penrite Racing driver was watched on by his proud parents Jason and Nicola, who he said made sacrifices to get him to where he is today.
“It was really good having mum and dad there and they are going to try and come to most races,” he said.
“I am there now. It is my time to deal with the pressure and make sure I’m doing my best, but then they can come and enjoy it and watch and watch all their hard work go around the track.
“With all the sacrifices that we did as a family it is pretty cool for them to now come and travel and spend more time enjoying it, rather than stressing over it.
“Obviously it’s a little boy going fast around a track, they are always stressing and always want me to do the best I can, but it’s good they can sit back and relax and do not have to worry (about the financial commitment).
“We took a lot of sacrifice but if you are willing to take sacrifices and you really want to do something, you can really do whatever you want as long as you put your mind to it and work hard.
“It is those little things that you just find a way to do it; you find a way to be fast, you find a way to pay for new bits on your go kart or I had to find a way to prep my go kart because dad had to work two jobs to try and fund it.”
It was an “up and down” weekend for the rookie who is looking to improve as the season continues.
On Friday, Allen qualified 10th for race one but a poor race start caused him to finish 19th in the opening race.
The following day he both qualified and finished 23rd out of 25 cars in race two.
“I did not quite maximise the technique that we have been working on and just slowly went out the window of where I needed to be,” he said.
“I started nearly last for the race and finished nearly last just with some damage, but I really worked hard Saturday night and Sunday morning to work on that technique, watched a lot of vision and data and have a really good teammate to look at.
“Matty helped me a lot in understanding how to drive these cars with this new tyre and really helped on Sunday.”
The young gun qualified and finished 13th on Sunday for the final race of the round.
“I went out there and I was in the top 10 for a while and just went out on that last set of tyres,” he said.
“I was on a really good lap, I actually matched Matty until the last section and just slightly made a mistake, and I think I lost about a tenth and that was all to bump me out of the top 10, so I nearly made my first shootout.
“It rained which was pretty cool. In the wet there I was one of the fastest cars on the track which is pretty unbelievable in my eyes, I did not really expect that.
“I have got the right team around me to try and start chipping away and getting some better results as the year ticks over.
“It was a very, very positive weekend. Results-wise probably not what I want even though I am a rookie, but I think we are in a good position to move forward in these coming races.
“I just cannot wait to get out there and keep improving; that’s all I want to do this year is to make sure I improve every time I get back in the car.”
Allen sits 20th in the Repco Supercars championship rankings after the first round and will now compete in the Melbourne SuperSprint at Albert Park as the main support category for the 2025 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
