On Saturday 14th August, the Harley Club of Victoria hosted the 2010 Victorian Senior/Junior Dirt Track title at the State Motorcycle Complex at Broadford.
The complex had received nearly 80mm of rain in the week leading up to the event with the track being completely under water on the Wednesday before race day. However complex manager, Pat Flecther, worked all week to make sure that the track was at it best come race day. His tireless efforts rewarded by the racing that followed that day.
Although a little slick in Practise, the 620m kidney shaped track with a main straight similar to what you would normally see at a Long Track meeting, developed a number of race lines that resulted in first class racing from the first drop of the gate.
The Senior classes saw entrants from South Australia, NSW and VIC but it was North West Victoria MCC’s, Rohan Tegart that took the spoils in all 4 championship classes.
Although the results would indicate Tegart had it all his way, those on the fence witnessed the battle between him and the hard charging Brad Burns of Albury Wodonga MCC. The pair were the front runners all day and traded wins in all 4 classes.
Pro Lites final results had Tegart on top of the podium with Burns in 2nd and young local HCV rider Trent Dopper in 3rd.
There was no room for mistakes in the Pro Open class, won on a countback between Tegart and Burns with Nathan Hedley in 3rd. Tegart getting to the flag first in the final heat after the pair traded the lead all day.
The MX Open class went a little differently with Burns running out of fuel in heat 2 dropping him off the podium and making way for Grant Dodd of Bendigo MCC into 2nd and Daniel Romeo of Griffith MCC in 3rd.
Tegart and Burns went at it again in the Unlimited class, Tegart with the win over Burns. The battle for 3rd was where the action was though as Grant Dodd and Daniel Romeo shared equal points for the day, Romeo getting the third step on the podium on another countback.
To the Junior classes and there was no less action here. These kids were fast and ready to take home the glory. Unfortunately only one of the title classes remained in the hands of a Victorian in Nathan Trigg from North West Victoria MCC.
In the 65cc 7-U9yrs class Tom Edwards of Hunter MCC did not drop a point all day to beat Jack Gilbert of Cowra MCC and local HCV rider Nicholas Clair.
Another clean sweep in the 65cc 9-U13yrs class saw Cowra’s Zach Cook take the honours, joined on the podium by Hayden Spinks all the way from the Central Coast and Ty Lynch in 3rd.
Zach Cook doubled up with his impressive form in the 9-U11yrs 85cc 2-Stk/150cc 4-Stk class taking 4 wins from 4 heats while 2nd place went to Mud N Tars rider Dakota Ballantyne over Mackenzie Childs of Kurri Kurri MCC in 3rd.
With younger brother Zach consistently fast all day, Ben Cook couldn’t let his little brother show him up and went out to take victory in all 4 heats of his 11-U13yrs 85cc 2-Stk/150cc 4-Stk class. Lawson Walters, down from Kurri Kurri, stood on the 2nd step of the podium and was joined by Ty Lynch for 3rd, his second podium place for the day.
The 80cc 4-Stk Modified 7-U10yrs class saw some fresh blood in the mix. The Central Coast MCC’s Mitchell Cluff and Connor Spinks took 1st and 3rd respectively separated by Cowra’s Matthew Gilmore.
To the bigger bikes of the junior ranks, the 100-150cc 2-Stk and the 250cc 4-stk classes were filled with the likes of Sean McLellan, Izaak Ticehurst, Jake Aramini, and Brayden Elliott. Even Road Racer Brody Nowlan came back to the dirt. And you can’t forget Nathan Trigg all the way form North West Vic.
These boys were fast and will surely step up into the senior ranks and make life hard for the older boys.
The 100-150cc 2-Stk honours went to McLellan, unbeaten on the KTM 150, over Nowlan in 2nd and Trigg 3rd.
After a flawless victory on his KTM, McLellan wasn’t so lucky in the 250cc 4-Stk class. With the first 2 heat wins in his favour, the current Australian stirred the fire inside Trigg who had his Kawasaki KX250F on song and pulled out 2 impressive wins in heats 3 and 4 to take the honours in the 250cc 4-Stk. The only junior title in retained Victoria. They were joined by on the podium by Jake Aramini who rode 4 very strong rides to take home a trophy.
Two junior classes were run as support due to a lack of entries but that didn’t mean that these kids were riding any slower. The 85cc 2-Stk/150cc 4-Stk 13-U16yrs class was won by Hunter Anderson from West Wyalong MCC winning 3 of the 4 heats over Joshua Fletcher and Bayley James. Hayden Spinks got his second podium of the day in the 80cc 4-Stk Modified 10-U14yrs class with Cowra brothers Jack & Joe Dawes filling up the podium.
With all the racing done and dusted for the day nice and early and without incident, congratulations go the members of the Harley Club of Victoria and all the volunteers on the day who made the event happen.
And thank you to all the riders and families for making the effort to head into, and support, Dirt Track racing in Victoria. It may not be as strong as it used to be but with your support we can continue to head in the right direction and maybe take some of your state titles away in the not too distant future.
Joel Mallatt