Ride! eNews February 2007

Motorcycling Queensland Ride! eNewsletter Issue 1 - February 2007


	*In this Issue...*
2007 Kicks Off In Fine Style	Go Girls Women's Cup	Junior Speedway National Championships
Australian Supercross Championships Preview	Crump Takes Aussie Title	Queenslanders set for tilt at National Superbike Championships
Sunshine State Series ready for launch	Dalby Moto / Yamaha Trail Rides	Tony Bogaart's Tech Tips
The General		2007 Training Seminars schedule

2007 Kicks Off In Fine Style
Story by: Scott Bishop

In excess of 15,000 spectators crammed three venues during the month of January to witness the start of the 2007 motocross season. Toowoomba, Gold Coast and the finale at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds hosted the newly formed three round Queensland Stadium Motocross Series and going by its inaugural run, the series is here to stay.

MAKING A SERIES

The summer months usually serve up a host of one off stadium style events, but this year Laurie Coomber dragged together the three meetings and turned them in a series that has proven to be a huge success.

The Toowoomba and Gold Coast events were promoted by the local clubs, with national promoting company - Spokes Promotions hosting the final round proceedings at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds. Coomber’s role was to oversee the three events and combine them to make a worthwhile and exciting start to the racing year, which he as done successfully.

Rider interest was certainly strong with over 300 entries for each round. Combine the enthusiasm most have for the start of the New Year, new bikes, night time racing and huge crowds and its easy to see why Stadium Motocross is so popular. For those chasing national championships, it’s also the perfect way to get yourself tuned up for the year ahead and blow out some of the off season cobwebs.

THE RIDERS

Brisbane based national pros like Daniel Reardon and Robbie Marshall mixed it up with Mitch Hoad, Jake Moss and Daniel McCoy all from New South Wales, while CDR Yamaha racer Cheyne Boyd made the trek from Victoria. But the guy who got the dedication award was Tim Wiegand, who flew in from the US for the third round at the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds to shake down his new deal here in Australia for 2007 with the Shift / Motul Suzuki Team.

“The tracks up here are so much better than the stadium motocross tracks we race on in New South Wales,” Mitch Hoad recently told eRide. “We have a few ski jumps and a couple of turns but the track on the Coast was great practice for the up coming Supercross series and the rider quality also makes the trip worthwhile”, he added.

Lower grades and the junior classes were also filled to capacity. The newly formed Expert class was well supported and the Intermediate and Clubman riders were out in full force. The only class that didn’t go ahead as per the Supplementary Regulations was the Women’s event, no doubt many females were keen to do the series but also were curious to see how tough the race tracks were.

ROUND 1 - TOOWOOMBA

Of all the stadium style events happening in South East Queensland, the Toowoomba event has been one of the longest running and most successful. This year the club decided to bring the racing under a roof and laid out a tight and challenging track under the open sided Wool and Rodeo Shed in the Toowoomba Showgrounds.

The track started outside the shed and then entered via the open side. The track layout itself was great and the floor space would be comparable to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre so for many riders this was their first taste of indoor racing. The roof eliminated the elements and a strong crowd took advantage of every vantage-point to take in the action.

ROUND 2 - GOLD COAST

A couple of years ago, the club staged a stadium motocross on the car park of the Carrara Football Stadium and it was a massive success. The following year they tried it in the actual football ground itself and the impact wasn’t the same. So for 2007 it was back to the car park and the club laid on a fantastic track that was safe enough for the rank and file yet challenging enough for some of Australia’s best riders.

Again another bumper crowd packed the portable grandstands the club had bought in and the racing was fast and furious. Many of the interstate riders also commented on the quality of track and riders we have up here and were keen to come back up through the season for more race practice.

ROUND 3 - BRISBANE

The Brisbane Exhibition Grounds haven’t seen a crowd this big for a motor sport event in quite some time.

The place was filled to the rafters to watch the final event of the series. In conjunction with the racing, Spokes Promotions also had a massive Monster Truck, freestyle motocross and fireworks like you wouldn’t believe. The action ran all day and most of the night and spectators certainly couldn’t complain about a lack of action out there on the floor.

“We had a huge turn out up there and I couldn’t be happier with the support we received from everyone in Brisbane,” stated promoter Phil Christiansen. The Brisbane market has been good to us in the past couple of years and the bikes with the monster truck makes for a great night out.”

SO WHO WON?

Daniel Reardon is riding his KX450F like a man possessed at the moment and easily won the Pro Open class. Cheyne Boyd who only did the final two rounds showed he is in top form heading into the 2007 season and finished on the heels of Reardon. Both Nick Geck and Simon Thompson also showed their off season wasn’t spent sitting on the couch and displayed flashes of brilliance.

Reardon won the Pro Lites again, but Robbie Marshall proved to be the man to beat in the races he contested. The Expert class saw Brodie Edwards take out both the lites and open classes, while the Intermediate classes turned into a Dean Ferris benefit with strong rides also coming from Jason Daniel and Andrew Reardon.

Luke Wilson won the Clubman classes with ease on his Kawasaki. Junior winners included Harley Quinlan, Jake Pengelly, Shaun Redhead, Scott Mann, Jackson Richardson and Jesse Dobson.

Individual round and overall series points can be accessed from www.mqld.org.au

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Go Girls Women's Cup
Story by: Tamara Gray
Photo supplied by: Mickey Moose Photography

Some of the crew that turned up... Women’s motocross racing is at its strongest right here in Queensland. With a field of senior and junior women that outsrtip many other states, along with the depth and frequency of women’s only events here, it is no wonder many girls from far and wide will travel to compete here.

The first women’s motocross event for 2007, Go Girls Women’s Cup & Trans Tasman Challenge took place on January 21 at Warwick.

The second year of this inaugural event was up on overall numbers this year with 280 riders in total 93, of those gutsy talented females. Riders traveled from as far as New South Wales, Victoria, the Northern Territory and New Zealand to stake their claim on the cup.

The depth of talent in the senior women’s class made some of the day’s best racing. With the likes of current Queensland Champion Tamara Gray (QLD Yamaha Girls MX Team), New Zealand Champion Kristy Gillespie (Motorex KTM), Australian Super Motard Champion Rebecca Bateman (Husky Chix), and newly turned senior hot shots Ashlea Bates and Steph Cutler, the competition was fast and furious. Final line honours in the senior class ended up going to the 16 year old Ashlea Bates.

A new addition to the format this year was the running of the Trans Tasman Cup. With 13 year old Alicia McLaughlan the current New Zealand Junior Women’s Champion, and 65cc rider Simone Sidwell gracing our shores, the two cup events were run in conjunction with the female junior lites class and female 65cc class. Both girls were eager to participate in an all women’s class, as back home the women’s racing does not yet cater for their juniors.

Two Australian riders were selected to go head to head against the Kiwis. Young up and coming rider Stacey Griffiths represented in the junior lites class and Taylah Maurice all the way from the Northern Territory did battle in the 65cc class. The Aussies got up on the Kiwis taking both classes, and keeping the cup on Australian shores.

In the junior classes the future stars of this emerging sport shone. Allie Hicks won the female 50cc Division 2, Tanisha Messer won the female 65cc 7-10 years, Tayla Jones won the female 65cc 10-U13 years, Megan Rutledge won both the female and open 85cc 9-u12 years classes. Tori Dare took out both the female 85cc 12-U16 and female junior lites divisions.

The cup event is a prelude to the fully-fledged Husqvarna Go Girls Women’s Motocross Series, which will now be in its third year of running. The man behind the success of all the Go Girls events is series organiser Bevan Judd. Judd and his family took on organising women’s events in South East Queensland after enjoying a much earlier budding women’s club series.
After seeing that the series was not going to be continued by previous organisers, Judd jumped in and extended the series to cater for junior riders as well. A very smart move from him, securing the high level of ability that will come from our female junior riders in the future.

“I saw huge potential, not only in the riding ability of our female riders here in Queensland, but the concept of a women’s series in general” explained Judd.

Judd is not in the promotion of women’s motor sport for the financial rewards, in fact it is a well known fact that most of the profits that he makes from events are channeled back into the sport. He has been known to provide financial assistance to riders heading off overseas to ride, and is keen on the idea of facilitating coaching sessions prior to each round of the series.

The only significant change from 2006 is that the Series has been reduced from 5 rounds down to 4, with the first round set for Kilcoy on February 25.

The series still caters for female riders of all ages, bike types and abilities, with a variety of support rides for the brothers, boyfriends and husbands of the talented female riders that are out there giving it a go.

The senior women’s class will continue to be graded in to an A and a C grade division to cater for riders of all abilities and an attempt to encourage more women to ride at the events. The series is still run under an interclub format, meaning Club licence holders are eligible to compete.

Further information on the 2007 Husqvarna Go Girls Women’s Motocross Series is available from www.gogirlracing.com.au or www.mqld.org.au

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