They’re coming - from South Australia, Victoria, the ACT and Queensland to take on the best from New South Wales – when the Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club Inc. complex at Allen Park MVRG, at Debenham Road North, Somersby plays host to the 2011 Honda / Tumut Motorcycle Accessories Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships meeting this coming weekend (October 28 to 30).
More than 150 riders will bring over 270 motorcycles into the pit area for the championship showdown.
Junior dirt track competition is extremely competitive and the lure of national championship success invariably sees the riders provide top quality action on par with any senior meeting.
Last month’s rain shortened New South Wales Dirt Track Championship meeting attracted very few riders from interstate, so those riders were obviously comfortable going into the nationals without a recent outing at the track.
In the favour of many of the interstate entries though is that they have been to Somersby before so they certainly should not be disadvantaged.
In all there are 17 classes of racing on the program for the weekend, including two for the girls, from the demonstration class for the 50cc bikes for riders from four years of age up to under nine, through to the 13 to Under 16 years age bracket, many of whom will be heading into the senior ranks in the next year or so.
A number of riders in various age brackets will be kept busy competing in either two or three separate classes of competition.
Among the older brigade the likes of Brady Kurtz, Joel Nowlan, Robbie Menzies-Sargant, Hunter Anderson, Patrick McLaughlin, Josh Pickering, Josh McDonald, Matthew Davies, Sean McLellan, Zac Levy and Jack Holder have great credentials.
In one of the many sub-plots in the meeting it will be particularly interesting to watch the form of Matthew Davies in the 13 to Under 16 years age group and Remy Gardner, son of Wayne, in the 11 to Under 13 years age group.
Both have impressive dirt track backgrounds, particularly Davies who has a string of national and state titles to his credit, but over the past 12 months both have successfully pursued road racing careers in Europe.
Riders in this discipline of motorcycle racing get two chances to compete in national championship meetings each year. Already the Australian Junior Long Track Championships (raced on a traditional oval track) was staged in Brisbane in early July, so this weekend’s Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships (oval track with one right-handed corner) will give a small group the chance to achieve a rare double.
Sean McLellan, Lawson Walters, Zaine Kennedy, Joel Kelso, Caleb Porter, Declan Kennedy, Ben Cook, Mackenzie Childs, Boyd Hollis, Hunter Anderson and Sally Smith and Mackenzie Tricker in the girls’ classes are all chasing the long and dirt track double.
For the classes with more than 12 entries, all riders will contest four point-scoring heats with the top ten progressing to the all-important six lap final where they are joined by the top two from what is always a cut-throat repechage race.
Where there are 12 or less entrants, riders will compete in five rounds with points accumulating from each round to decide the champion.
Both formats leave little room for error as even one bad round, or a mechanical problem, can prove a major setback to a rider’s hopes.
For the Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club this weekend’s meeting will be sixth national title showdown that the club has hosted in seven years.
Activities will get under way on Friday (October 28) with scrutineering and then practice from 12.30pm, while on Saturday (October 29) and Sunday (October 30) racing will get under way at 10am. A parade of riders will officially open proceedings on Saturday morning.
Admission for spectators will cost a tax-deductible donation of $10 per vehicle payable at the gate for the St Johns First Aid. That will cover entry for the whole weekend.