Coming off the heels off a successful second season behind the wheel of a Mini Stock, the focus is simple for Ryder White – trying to pick up some checkered flags.

“We’ve done some changes to the car that will hopefully keep us up front all season long and I really want to get my first win in the Mini Stock,” he told Short Track Musings. “It would just mean so much, honestly. It’s my third year and I’ve been running up front for probably a season and a half, and just doing it for that long now, I really just feel deserving of it. I just need to get that one step faster and it would mean a whole lot to me.”

White caught a lot of people off-guard in his second forray with the division, as evident by multiple top-five finishes at Sunset Speedway. He capped off the year by pacing all 25 laps en route to winning the season ending First Timers Race.

“Just really proud of those moments,” he commented. “At the Allan Lankin Cup, I was third-place overall in the three races, and I just felt like, ‘Wow, I’m actually competing up front with all these really good racers.’”

For White, his interest in motorsports started by going to Sauble Speedway at a young age and begging his parents to buy him a Jr Late Model. The decision was made in 2018, and he has not looked back since. His years with the division saw him win multiple times at a variety of tracks, including both Sunset and Sauble.

The transition now to mini stocks has not come all with ease, admittedly, as he says there has been a lesson in knowing you cannot win every week.

“Like you said, I had a lot of success and got me super confident and arrogant that I was just going to go out there and win. Then when I wouldn’t, that would get me so mad,” he explained. “That’s really taught me a lesson in the mini stocks to be happy with your top-five, top-three finishes, and it’s a good spot to finish in a field of 22 cars.”

With the progression he’s made in the sport to date already at a young age, White could see himself remaining with the Mini Stock division five years now, or moving into a T.Q. Can-Am Midget.

“We know Mike Westwood and he really told us about them,” he commented. “They’re not really too expensive and they race up at Sauble Speedway and I have a trailer up there in the summer that we stay at permanently in the summer time and that’s just the dream was for us – to race every weekend at Mini Stock. But they got rid of the Combined 4 class there so we came down to Sunset.”

With the experience he has gained to date, his advice to other young racers would be take your time getting up to pace.

“You have to realize that you’re only starting out and good things come in due time,” he said. “It might take some time, but once you get to that point, it’s hard to get away from it.”