McFarlane Leads Motorcoss World Championships

Brisbane’s Andrew ‘Sharky’ McFarlane took out a strong second/first victory at Matcham’s Park on June 5th, to win the Grand Prix of Great Britain, and now leads the World MX2 Championship by 7 points. On results so far this season, 2005 was always going to Sharky’s year, and the relative ease with which he claimed victory speaks volumes for his determination.  GO THE SHARK !!!!

Top Five for McFarlane at Sugo

Andrew McFarlane experienced a difficult day in Japan at the sixth round of the World MX2 championship, on the Yamaha owned Sugo Circuit, finishing fifth overall after a disappointing second heat crash while attacking Stephen Sword for second position.

Sharky’s barnstorming rush at the MX2 title slowed drastically at Sugo but he still rates 4th overall in the World rankings. Being the first time in a decade that a GP has been held in Japan, the Yamaha owned and operated Sugo circuit did not allow Andrew to exert the same authority that he’d enjoyed with wins in the previous two GP’s at Belgium and Germany. Riding a YZ250F for Ricci Yamaha, Andrew snatched victory at the German Teutschenthal track on May 15th with a first and third placings, backing up his previous Round 4 win at Namur in Belgium with his third and second placings.

Grey skies and low temperatures greeted almost 25,000 Sugo spectators, while Sharky took a reasonable 4th in race one, despite suffering extreme arm pump for the entire race. Race two saw Sharky again start very well in third position behind the two Brits Mackenzie and Sword. The battle for second between Sword and Sharky took on mammoth proportions for 6 laps until Andrew lost the back end coming out of the whoop section and crashed. Recovering in 10th spot, where he stayed for most of the race, Andrew eventually passed Patrick Caps for ninth placing.

Unable to run as freely as he had done in his last two Grand Prix victories, Sharky loses his third overall position to Stephen Sword who is just five points in front of him. The crowd appeal of the MX2 Championship far exceeds the premier MX1 Class, with five different GP winners in the first six MX2 rounds so far this year.

Sharky’s quote:
"I felt good in the first moto but it was not an easy track. I suffered really badly with arm pump, and just ran out of time, which was a shame as I was catching Melotte. In the second moto I started OK and Mackenzie pulled away from me as he was riding really well. Then I just lost the back end coming out of the whoops. It put me off my rhythm and I struggled the whole race. I am disappointed because I had Chicco and Cairoli behind me. That's the way it goes. Now I will go home and prepare to take a good result in England."

Keep up-to-date with Sharky's progress and latest results in the World MX2 Championships via the Motorcycling Queensland webiste www.mqld.org.au

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Team Whale Tops Queensland Titles

The third and final round of the 2005 Yamaha Qld MX Championships was a fierce competition eventually decided at Glenfern Park, Kilcoy, after the cream of our rider crop had traipsed the entire length of our state to set the initial script at Townsville and Mackay.

290 bikes in the hands of 245 of our best riders made the ground rumble at Kilcoy, in front of what must have been at least half of the surrounding population. The Open Class went to Whale Kawasaki’s Adam Cini with three second placings, which also gave him the overall Championship narrowly winning by two points over Gladstone Motorcycle’s Nathan Crawford with Pro Yamaha’s Simon Thompson third.  

The 250cc two-stroke machines were again dominant, with all bar one of the nine motos in the series being won by four different riders all on two-strokes.  The only exception was Simon Thompson on a Pro Yamaha four stroke in the first moto on Saturday at Kilcoy.

The round win in the Lites Championship was taken out by Serco Yamaha’s Robbie Marshall who won all three motos, with Whale Kawasaki’s Daniel Reardon second on the day. However Reardon still won the overall Championship, with Robbie second and Simon Thompson third. 

That double Title victory for Whalie came as a welcome respite as he sells up his business interests to concentrate solely on running a successful Race Team.

The Junior classes were as follows Brenden Harrison and Mackay rider Liam Bettridge in Junior Lites 15 & 13/14 years, and in the 85cc classes Jamie Bain, Harley Quinlan and Samuel Duncanson won the 14/15, 12/13 and 9/11 year categories respectively.  The 65cc classes went to Jake Wright 10/12 years and Scott Mann 7/9 years, and the 50cc Auto Division Two was won by Ben Dorreen.

Overall results from the 2005 Yamaha Queensland Motocross Championships can viewed on the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au 'Results' section.

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Yamaha dominated the 3rd and final round of the QLD Sprint X country series, held on the last weekend in May at Kin Kin in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Thanks to recent rain in the area the conditions were perfect, with no dust and some awesome grass track sections.

Team Moto's Kirk Hutton (YZ 250) took 4 wins from 4 starts over Ballard's Motorex Yamaha's Ryan Smart (YZ 250F) who came home second overall, with Griffin Racing's Chris Reading (YZ 125) rounding out the top three.

While Hutton had checked out in the third moto the pro class was left to Ryan Smart and Chris Reading to battle hard all the way to the end, passing each other a number of times during the race with Smart coming out to take second just ahead of Reading.

Also Motorcycle Country's Nick Beattie (YZ 250F) easily took the overall win in the Expert all powers class, keeping it clean all day.

Upon reciept, results from the Yamaha Sprint Enduro Series will be viewable from the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au 'Results' section.

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Marshalling Point
Ride! Editor - Barry Marshall

With so many major sporting achievements to report on over the past 2 months, undoubtedly the biggest news on the local scene is not in fact a competition event at all. It will come as some considerable shock, no matter who you barrack for, or what brand of bike you ride, that Motorex KTM’s hotter-than-hot young junior achiever Brenden Harrison has withdrawn from the sport he loves, at least for a while.

Announcing his sad and surprising retirement amid extremely mixed emotions, Brenden is ‘all raced out’ and just wants a break from motocross so he can experience life as a ‘JOE AVERAGE BOY’.

One of the brightest junior motocross prospects ever to emerge from Queensland, and already recognised as a major national talent, Brenden would be on every team’s shopping list as he approaches maturity and prepares for a career among the high profile seniors.

Now 15 years old (he turns 16 in October) Brenden started racing at the tender age of 4, and almost immediately he was snapped up by Castrol KTM (now Motorex KTM) as the youngest rider ever to become a full-on professionally sponsored competitor.

After winning his first Australian MX Title as a privateer so very long ago at Biloela, KTM Boss Jeff Leisk was quick to sign Brenden up as a young star-in-the-making, and that successful combination literally dominated the junior ranks for a decade.

At one stage when KTM had no 80cc model to supplement Brenden’s other KTM race bikes, Jeff Leisk thought so highly of the young Queensland phenomena that he approved of the purchase of two Hondas so that Brenden could continue his stranglehold on the juniors. The Hondas were painted in KTM colours, and his entry was still under the banner of Castrol KTM, but few people knew the difference. For two years (2000 to 2002) Brenden rode the ears off his Honda/KTM look-alikes, keeping his light shining brightly in the 80cc category and the 85cc Big Wheel class.

Taking numerous Queensland and National Titles in his stride, Brenden went from strength to strength, without revealing to anyone that his interest was waning.

However in 2004 he injured his back and broke both legs in separate incidents, so he sat out the remainder of the season and seemed to really enjoy the holiday.

This year he has already won the Queensland 125cc Championship for 15 year olds, and is currently leading his class in the Shell Advance Sunshine State Series, but now comes the announcement that Brenden wants a rest, and who could deny him that. He is now employed as an apprentice motorcycle mechanic, and he’s loving it. He still has a bike, it is a KTM, and he may even be seen at an occasional Club Day, not recognisable by his flash factory gear, but as the unidentifiable scrubber going so much quicker than everyone else.

Good luck Brenden, we hope to see you back real soon.

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Bugden takes Privateer Cup fro STAR

The third round of the 2005 YMF Loan Australian Superbike Championship at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia on Sunday May 29 saw Queenslander Robert Bugden take out the AMCN Privateer Cup aboard his Star Yamaha YZF-R1. Now that’s Michael Edward’s STAR Northside, not to be confused with his brother Matthew Edwards’ STAR Southside, which has been sold to Paul Petersen, and is now renamed Pro Yamaha.

Urgent Sponsorship Needed
Bugden and Michael Edwards have a very successful racing relationship, so successful in fact that it has led to a Guest Invitation for Robert to vacate his local ties and to depart this country. Robert has been offered a deal to ride the last 5 Rounds of the British Superbike Championship, but it came so suddenly, and with such surprising impact, he is unable to fully finance the trip himself.

There is probably not one single rider out there who isn’t urgently seeking sponsorship, but in Robert’s case he has the product, he has the talent, and for a cashed-up sponsor seeking international exposure, Robert already has the overseas forum.

Now when we say urgent, what we really mean is “URGENT”, and while we at RIDE! never act as intermediaries for money soliciting, Robert Bugden is a very needy case, and an extremely conspicuous billboard on which to glue someone’s advertising posters.

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Serco's Top-Two in National Titles

Serco Yamaha’s Robbie Marshall put himself into major national contention after a sensational win at the fifth round of the Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship at Newcastle on May 22. Marshall sealed the overall victory with an impressive win in the second moto, to back up his hard fought third placing behind Suzuki's Luke Burkhart and Yamaha's Troy Carroll in the opening moto.

The twenty one year old Queenslander was improving on the run after his double class victory in the Sunshine State Series the previous weekend at Kingaroy. With such a great confidence boost Robbie is going from strength to strength with Serco Yamaha, reminiscent of the form that originally saw him enlisted into the national KTM team.

Robbie had this to say, "I am absolutely stoked, after winning both classes at the Sunshine State round last weekend, I felt quietly confident this morning. The Newcastle track is very tricky, because it is so rocky and one little mistake means you are in trouble. Fortunately it all came together for me today, I felt fit and relaxed and the bike showed great speed. I never expected to be winning national motocross events ahead of Supercross, but the training and extra races have really helped me and I have now notched up my second AMX round win this year,"

The Newcastle win elevates Marshall to second in the overall championship behind his Serco team mate Cameron Taylor who struggled on the rocky circuit to finish fifth, but Cameron’s points buffer still has him 28 points clear of Robbie, with a further 7 points back to Ryan Marmont. With many of the top ten failing to finish in one of the two thirty minute events, Taylor's consistency paid off with an eighth and a fourth.

He commented, "While I didn't have much luck on track today I was very fortunate the likes of Ryan Marmont, Danny Anderson, Cody Cooper and Luke Burkhart did poorly in one of their two races. It was quite amazing we were able to extend our championship lead, and with three rounds still to go I really need to maintain top-three placings in all remaining races”.

Troy Carroll, Simon Thompson and Daniel Reardon were off the pace at Newcastle, claiming 8th, 9th and 10th respectively.
Queenslanders traditionally do not fare as well in the Pro Open class, the high profile New Zealand stars Daryl Hurley, Darryl and Shane King troubled only by Aussie Danny Ham for the top honours. However Queensland’s top flag bearers at Newcastle were fifth placed Mick Cook, and Adam Cini who finished tenth, Cooky being consistently fifth also in the overall Championship ratings.

Keep up to date with all of latest action includng News and Results from the 2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship, from http://www.ozmotox.com/mrmx/

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Crump Still Trump
Despite going down to Swede Tony Rickardsson in the Slovenien Grand Prix at Krsko on May 28, defending Speedway World Champion Jason Crump (pictured), was more than happy to take away a healthy slice of the points. Crumpy still maintains his strong second placing in the overall World ratings, only 11 points behind Rickardsson, and always a big threat to the Championship outcome.

Jason said, “The Slovenian round has never been kind to me, I seem to make a lot of balls ups, I possibly chose the wrong gate in the final, and I didn’t make a good start. I got chopped up in the first corner, and basically the Final was all over from there. Obviously I would’ve liked to have done better but I can’t be disappointed.

Tonight proved that the championship is definitely not a two–horse race between Rickardsson and myself, Nicki Pedersen is finding form, and he’ll be really tough to beat. It just shows what can happen on any night, it’s not the end of the world, but I must keep making the finals to be getting regular points. If I can do that the World Championship chase will look much better.”

Grand Prix points after three (of nine) rounds:
1 T Rickardsson (Sweden), 70 pts;
2 Jason Crump (Australia), 59;
3 N Pederson (Sweden) 46;
4 L Adams (Australia), 42;
5 N Pedersen (Denmark) 26;
6 A Lindback (Sweden) 24

Round four of the Speedway World Championship will be held at the magnificent Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (Great Britain) on June 11.

Keep up-to-date with how Jason Crump and the other Australians fare for the remainder of the 2005 World Speedway Championships from http://www.speedwayworld.tv or regular updates avaialble from the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au

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Robbie Blitzes Dalby

Serco Yamaha’s Robbie Marshall continued his recent form to dominate Round 5 of the 2005 Shell Advance Sunshine State MX Series, taking both the Pro Open and the Pro Lite Classes at Dalby. Considering the distance to Dalby, the rollup was good with 340 riders entering 400 bikes, and the action was also fitting such a keenly supported motocross area.

The Pro Open class was won by Serco Yamaha’s Robbie Marshall, kept honest all the way by Team Moto Kawasaki’s Luke Nelson, and in the Pro Lites Robbie Marshall backed up again for Serco Yamaha to take the honours ahead of Whales Kawasaki’s Daniel Reardon.

Brock Winston won the Intermediate Lites and was second in the Open, Reece Westles won the Intermediate Open, the Clubman Lites and Open were won respectively by Chris Penrose and Chris Kiss, with the approaching threat looming from James Luchetta.

The Junior classes were as follows :- Nicholas Geck and Todd Waters in Junior Lites 15 & 13/14 years, the 85cc classes went to Todd Waters, Casey Turner and Shaun Redhead respectively in the 14/15, 12/13 and 9/11 age groups, and the 65cc classes were won by Jake Wright (10/12 years) and Scott Mann (7/9 years).

Overall results from the 2005 Shell Advance Sunshine State Motocross Series available from the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au Results section.

Round 6 of the Series will be held at Wheelstanders (Oxley) on 11/12 June, Round 7 at Chinchilla on 25/26 June, and the 8th and final round will be held at Echo Valley on 9/10 July.

Shell Advance Sunshine State Motocross Series - Presentation Night

The Presentation Night for the 2005 Shell Advance Sunshine State Motocross Series will be held on the evening of Friday 22nd July at the Gailes Golf Club (same venue as last year). This is the Friday night prior Round 1 of the Australian Supercross Masters to be held at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday 23rd July.

Bookings and pre-payment for the Presentation Night are essential. A bookings request form can be accessed from HERE.

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Troy Herfoss Wins Gold Coast Cup

Husqvarna Racing’s Troy Herfoss traded his usual SM450R Supermotard bike for a proper dirt track machine to take out the Gold Coast Cup at Mike Hatcher Park on Queensland’s Gold Coast on Saturday 21st May.

The two-time Australian Dirt Track Champion dominated the 20 lap final despite having a slowly deflating rear tyre for the last seven laps.

Herfoss used his considerable lead to hold off the pack, eventually taking victory ahead of Neil Judd and Lee Eastham. Herfoss commented, “Everything was going really well and I had built a good lead, then I felt the rear end getting a little loose. The last seven laps were a bit of a battle, but I managed to get it home in first place”. Herfoss also took out the Senior 500 Class ahead of Darren Herrick and Matt Groves.

Full results from this event will be published on the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au Results section, upon receipt.

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Merriman DNF's before victory

After 32 consecutive World Enduro finishes, Stephan Merriman’s luck ran out in Portugal when he DNF’d through injury on Day One, before the Aussie World Champion lifted courageously to claim an emphatic victory on day two.

The four-times world champion retired on day one after badly twisting ligaments in his left knee, the initial fear being that he’d be out of action for the remainder of the weekend. However Merriman’s outstanding response was to defeat ach-rival Samuli Aro by a scant 1.41sec on day two, with Frenchman Fabien Planet another 30 seconds behind in third.

Before the DNF, Merriman had won 23 of his previous 32 world enduro races, with his last non-finish coming in the final hitout of the 2003 season.

Another Aussie Jake Stapleton (TM) came tantalisingly close to his maiden world enduro win in the all-new all-powers Junior class, completing day one only 4.99sec behind Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero. The same riders scored the quinella on day two, Guerrero now holding a 14pt (100 to 86) lead over Stapleton, followed by Oriol Mena with 76 points in third.

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Good news and bad news from the Gold Coast
The Gold Coast Motocross Club has been granted a temporary reprieve after being ordered to close its Reedy Creek track earlier this year. Negotiations with the Gold Coast City Council have resulted in the track being re-opened for practice, racing and night motocross events. The club is now opening for daytime practice every Saturday and Sunday (10am - 5pm) as well as Wednesdays from 1pm to 5pm. Juniors get a night practice on the first and third Wednesdays of each month and Seniors every Tuesday night. Night practice runs from 6pm to 9pm and further details are available on 5522 7755.

Unfortunately, while the club was making progress with Reedy Creek, it was devastated by the loss of Graeme Mills, one of its long time supporters and a previous Club Secretary. Graeme was only 46 years old and he died in late May after a short illness. He was a great volunteer who was always ready to step in and help. He will be missed by all of us.

Go Girls Calendar Changes
The third round of the Go Girls Motocross Series has been re-scheduled to August 21 at Roma. The Go Girls series which was the brain child of Gold Coaster Bevan Judd, has involved into a highly successful and popular women’s motocross format and is attracting women and girls from across Queensland. As well as the race events, Go Girls is promoting coaching days to raise the standard of all the riders involved.

Further information on the Go Girls Series and philosophy available form http://www.gogirlracing.com.au/

Cross-border MX fun gets Underway
A motocross series which runs on both sides of the Queensland / New South Wales border gets underway in Goondiwindi on July 3rd. After that the Northern Inland Interclub Series has cross border skirmishes at Moree, Glen Innes, Warwick and Inverell.

Goondiwindi club secretary, Greg Heironymous expects the racing to be keenly contested but fun and he believes that the series will attract riders from all over the Darling Downs and Northern New South Wales. For series details contact Greg on 0428 715 046.

Aussie Moto-Trials comes to Queensland
If you have never seen a Moto-Trials event the Australian Championships at Canungra on 29th & 30th October should be locked into your diary as an event not to be missed.

Moto-Trials provides spectators with the opportunity to see apparently impossible feats achieved by riders with such skill that they don’t even appear to be daunted by the experience. For a spectator experience which is quite different from any other discipline, don’t miss this one.

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Lynne Rice Reports on Central Queensland Motocross & Enduro Series Changes and issues

Central Queensland’s MX calendar will consist of 12 meetings this season, after the unfortunate withdrawal of Blackwater from the series. Run over 7 weekends, three new senior classes have been introduced :-

1. Women’s Unlimited will cater for riders 16 years and up on bikes 80cc to 450cc. Women are entering the sport in ever increasing numbers, and as their riding style is vastly different from your average motocrossing male, a separate championship class has been created.

2. CQ Formula – The class that has been known as Clubman for the past 15 years in Central Queensland has had a name change (again). MA claimed naming rights a few years back, so to avoid confusion, Central Queensland Motocross now has a CQ Formula Class, open to Clubman (C) riders under 33 years of age on 2 year old or older bikes, MX or enduro. Riders 33 years and older ride in Masters Class.

3. Clubman Support Unlimited this class is for riders new to the sport wishing to participate in only one or two rounds on new to two year old bikes No championship points accrue.
Junior classes remain as 2004.

Encouraging riders to nominate early, clubs will impose a $15 late fee if nominating on the day.

After a few hiccups, and a quick flight to Rockhampton by the General Manager , the CQ Pony Express is up and running. The 5 rounds for 2005 are pretty well one a month from April to August.

Pioneer Valley Club will start and finish the series with the ever popular Gum Valley making a welcome return to both the enduro and motocross scene, Curtis Coast and Capricorn Coast clubs will also hold rounds. For a complete list of dates, log on to MQ’s website.

For the latest information including Results, etc. on both the Central Queensland Motocross & Enduro Series check out the Motorcycling Queensland website www.mqld.org.au

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Team Moto - School's In

After deciding to enrol key staff members into MQ’s 3 day course for Level One Coaches, the next step to avoid lost working hours was to bring the school room to them at their place of work.
Level 2 Coach Rodney Jenner arranged for class to resume after business hours in the conference room facilities at Team Moto’s Moss Street, Slacks Creek headquarters, and a new precedent for conducting Coaching Courses was set.

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Numbers Tell Crusty Story

Round 3 of the Shell Advance Sunshine State Series at Tivoli Raceway saw this year’s entries still well up around the 500 mark, but the eight week break to accommodate three rounds of the Queensland MX Championships and two rounds of the AMX Titles, saw a significant wane in numbers.

At the resumption of hostilities at Kingaroy on May 14/15 the on-paper entries (indicating bikes not riders) were well down to 427, from which another 40 withdrawals took a further last minute toll.

Past trends have always shown a significant drop in Shell Series numbers coinciding with the mid-season break, but this year the slide was greater than normal, thought to be attributable to the Crusty Demons 10th Anniversary extravaganza at Queensland Raceway.

The Crusties attracted a whopping 25,000 spectators on the same weekend as Kingaroy’s Round 4, so many of our absentees were undoubtedly at Willowbank on the Saturday night for their extravaganza performance.

Despite their carefully cultivated image of heavily tattooed body-ringed radicals, the Crusty Demons are a well oiled, well orchestrated group of talented showmen who broke (or set) 6 world jump records on the night. Now that just doesn’t happen if the major players are a mob of un-washed dropkicks charging over a big mound of dirt out in a paddock somewhere. And having broken the records once, several of the stars moved the huge sky-ramps back further so they could break them all over again.

With Guinness World Book of Records officials on hand, and hot media interest from right around the world, the Crusties extravaganza certainly drew much global interest.

It doesn’t come within MA’s realm of jurisdiction, but a significant number of the performers were MA licence holders, Robbie Maddison taking two world records on his own.

Other MA riders were Clint Debner (who set the first ever 50cc World record) Matt Schubring, Kain Saul, Cameron Sinclair, and Blake Williams.

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Low kms. Going Cheap

In the market for a very reasonably priced motocrosser? Well word has it there’s a brand new Honda CR250 with absolutely no kilometres, never been raced, but the buyer must take delivery, as is, where is.

The catch (and isn’t there always a catch with anything that sounds too good to be true) is that it lies about 7 metres below the surface of the Brisbane River, right where American Crusty Demon Larry Linkogle left it parked. The bike belonged to our own Team Moto Honda, who sponsored the visiting Crusty Tour with all 12 of their show bikes, but Larry lost the CR250 while performing a publicity stunt to advertise their 10th Anniversary Extravaganza at Queensland Raceway.

Larry backflipped the Honda over the steam tug Forceful at the end of the Maritime Museum Wharf, but when they went to retrieve the bike, it could not be found. Three days of divers searching the murky bottom of the muddy river, and the only feasible explanation is that Mayor Campbell Newman had it towed for overstaying its parking meter.

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Thumper Nats Resurrected

Entries are now open for the resurrected Yamaha Thumper Nats Series, to be promoted by Williams Event Management, which will be held over three rounds from July until October. There will be classes for clubman, veteran, quad, junior and Fast 50 competitors, plus the series will also play host to the Australian Women’s Cup. There will be an all-powers Pro class within the Thumper Nats, with riders who finish in the top 20 of the Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship (Open and Lites) not eligible to enter.

Entries will close 14 days prior to the respective rounds, Supplementary Regulations and Entry Forms are available via  http://www.ma.org.au/AM/Template.cfm?Section =Supp_regs_entry_forms2 For more information on the 2005 Thumper Nats, visit http://www.ozmotox.com/mrmx/

2005 THUMPER NATS CALENDAR
Rd1 Wollongong, NSW July 24
Rd2 Conondale, Qld August 14
Rd3 Newry, Vic October 23

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Proposed Australian Speedway Dates

Motorcycling Australia has issued a proposed schedule of dates for the 2006 Australian Solo Speedway Championships.

The series will be:

Rd 1 Gillman SA 6/01/06
Rd 2 Mildura Vic 8/01/06
Rd 3 Gosford NSW 11/01/06
Rd 4 Newcastle NSW 14/01/06

There was some early discussion about whether the 2006 series would feature a round at the Brisbane Exhibition Ground, however the proposal has now been dropped. In addition, the 2006 Australian U21 Solo Speedway Championships is proposed to be held at Gillman on February 4.

The schedules above are now awaiting final negotiations and agreement between MA an the promoters.

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Let the People Talk

When Mark Fattore’s first email arrived from Motorcycling Australia, seeking the input of riders and officials with regards to intended changes to certain rules governing individual sports, we decided to print it in RIDE! But when they continued to arrive there was no space to print them all.

For more detailed information on individual disciplines suggestions check out the following link on the MA website http://www.ma.org.au/AM/Template.cfm?Section=June_20051&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=5434 alternatively contact Ross Martin, Committees & Commissions Manager for MA, telephone (03) 9684 0504, or by email on ross@ma.org.au

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New Dam for Tivoli

As far as public acceptance of motorcycle sport goes, the biggest complaint is not excessive noise, as one might expect, but rather it’s the ‘dust pollution’. Dust polluted air is fairly easy to control, so long as there exists a good supply of water.

With Queensland’s extended drought making the countryside dry and susceptible to breaking up, the lack of water prevents the hosing of tracks to lay the dust, and many clubs are looking seriously at various reticulation systems.

Moreton District Motocross are in the process of digging an entirely new dam to irrigate their Komatsu MX Track at Tivoli Raceway, and the canyon that’s resulted is in the vicinity of being 5 times the capacity of their original pond, which remains in use as well. However rain must fall to fill the storage units, and according to Kevin Mortimer, if the drought continues Club Days and practice sessions will have to be cut.

Although the task has been a huge undertaking, it was only possible because of the earth moving machinery available to them via their major sponsor Komatsu Heavy Equipment.

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Some of the line up...

Undoubtedly one of the more senior lineups...

'Hardworkers' - Vern (left) & Averill (middle) Grayson and Alderman Kim Flesser