News
- Track
Return to
main News page here.
November
MIke
Hatcher Minikhana Carnival
October
Queensland
Dirt Track Forum announced
August
Northern
Invaders take North
Birsbane Cup
July
Burgess
wins first National Championship Title
April
Two
new Queensland Junior National Long Track champions
Keira Smith Number 1 at Dirt Track Championships
Queensland Junior & Senior
Dirt Track Championships - results
Davey
set to defend Title
February
Queensland
Dirt Track Championship Supp Regs released
*Archived 2007 Track
News here
Mike
Hatcher Minikhana Carnival
The Mike Hatcher Junior
Motorcycle Club is pleased to announce that they will be
hosting a Minikhana Carnival for junior licence holders.
This is set to be an action
packed day, where the riders get the chance to concerntrate
on their skill and technique, rather than speed.
The Club has organised specialised
Minikhana coaches, graders and officials from New South Wales
(where Minikhana is run regularly) who are donating
their time to give attendees an opportunity to have a go
at this great activity.
Details of the day are as
follows:
What: Mike Hatcher Junior
MCC Minikhana Carnival
Where: Mike Hatcher Park - captain Cook Drive, Labrador
When: Saturday 6th December 2008
Time: from 10am onwards
Cost: $25 per rider
More Information: Fiona Skerke on 5543-5639 or mb: 0427 290
050
<back
to top>
Queensland
Dirt Track Forum announced
Motorcycling
Queensland is pleased to announce that the organisation
will host a Dirt Track Forum in Brisbane on Saturday 29th
November 2008.
The Forum which is being
jointly organised by Motorcycling Queensland and the MQ Dirt
Track Subcommittee will provide all stakeholders with the
opportunity to discuss the current state of play with Dirt
Track racing, and determine appropriate strategies and pathways
for the ongoing development of the sport.
A professional facilitator
has been engaged to manage the running of the Forum and Motorcycling
Queensland is encouraging any person who has ideas and suggestions
on how to to contribute to the improvement of Dirt Track
to attend the Forum. Its a fantastic opportunity to have your
say about your sport.
To assist with catering
requirements all those attending are asked to complete
the Expression
of Interest Form and return to Motorcycling
Queensland by cob Monday 24th November.
In order to guard against
unneccessary overcrowding at the Forum, attendance is being
restricted to one attendee per family.
Details of the Forum are
as follows:
When: Saturday
29th November 2008
Time: 10am - 2:30pm
Where: Long Tan Room, Kedron-Wavell Services Club, Hamilton
Rd, Chermside
Catering: Tea and Coffee on arrival & lunch
for all attendees
Registration: On the Expression
of Interest Form by the due date
Motorcycling Queensland
is currently negotiating with the MQ Dirt Track
subcommittee in extending invitations to, and covering the
costs of, a number of North Queensland representatives
to ensure a 'whole of state' approach is taken.
<back
to top>
Northern
Invaders take North Brisbane Cup
Futuresport Motorcycles’ Jarrod and Damien Koppe claimed
a solid victory at the recent North Brisbane Cup, finishing
well in front of all rivals in the premier Senior All Powers
Challenge.
The Townsville duo lead
from early on in the 20 lap team event, setting a blistering
pace that saw them take the chequered flag nearly half a
lap in front of second place.
The final event of the evening (the
North Brisbane Cup is run under lights), the Senior All
Powers Challenge is in essence two 10 lap races separated
by a Le Mans style rider change. The anticipated rider transition chaos failed
to eventuate with most teams making short work of the change-over,
and although there was some bar banging out of the gates
at the beginning of the race all riders got away for a clean
start.
“After getting a pretty good start things
were looking good, but I got in a battle and lost the lead
for half a lap. I stayed tight and went back under
him, thought I had it easily covered but it was quite close” said
younger brother Damien, who was selected to tackle the first
half of the race after performing well in the earlier events.
“The
track was awesome, and although it dried off towards the
end I was able to build a gap before handing over to Jarrod.”
With a smooth rider change Jarrod
inherited the lead, and although the first two laps of
his stint were a little slow, allowing second placed Jace
Castles to momentarily catch up, Jarrod soon found the
pace he needed and extended his lead to take the win.
“It was great to jump
on in front, it made my job easy. I was worried they
would catch me as it got a bit rutty at the end, but it was
just a matter of staying on. It was a great team effort,
even the change-over went well” said elder brother
Jarrod.
 The Junior Challenge race had the
same format as the seniors, and it was the pairing of Tyson
Nelson and Reece McGill that took the win. With a hard fought battle for the lead
in the early stages, Nelson pulled an important gap leading
up to the change-over.
According to Nelson “it
was close at the start, but I didn’t want to push too
hard. I knew Reece would go well on his own bike, and
after a few laps I had them covered.”
The rider
changes in the junior race were less well orchestrated than
the seniors had managed, but nothing was to stop the lead
team.
“It was a sloppy change-over” said
McGill, “and we nearly stalled it. But although
I was a bit worried about them catching us at first, I didn’t
push too hard as there was no need to risk a crash. It
was good to take the win under lights, it is a way better
atmosphere.”
Nelson and McGill are normally
rivals on track, having shared many battles, but are looking
forward to pairing up again next year.
The North Brisbane Cup also featured
a Sidecar Challenge, and this was taken out by Ben & Lewis Raffin pairing
with Adam and Graham Liebke – both running 600s in
the open class event.
After the Raffin machine
lead for the first half of the race, the team had what they
called an “interesting” change-over and ended up with
the Liebke bike going out nearly the length of the straight
behind in second place. However, after “swearing
and cursing that we wouldn’t catch them”, the
Liebke bike caught up near the end of the race, and with
a very close pass they took the win.
Full resulst from the event
can be downloaded from here.
The North Brisbane Cup is a prestigious annual event in
the Queensland dirt track calendar, and was held on Saturday
evening 16th of August at North Brisbane Junior Motorcycle
Club.
<back
to top>
Burgess
wins first National Championship Title
Mackay's
Luke Burgess (centre) has won his first
ever National Championship title after a near perfect display
at the 2008 Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships held
in Somersby, New South Wales last weekend (18th - 20th July).
Burgess took 2 wins and
a third from 3 races in the 85cc/150cc 4 stroke 13-u16years
class, to finish with a 6 point victory over fellow Queenslander
- Corey Schaffer.
Another Queensland rider
Ryan Douglas took the win in the third and final race, dramatically
moving himself up the ladder to finish the event in third
place giving Queensland the trifecta in this class.
Burgess was ecstatic about
his win which tops off a great year, which has seen him win
a Queensland Junior Dirt track Title, as well as take a clean
sweep of all three classes he rode in at the North Qld Dirt
track Titles. He is sure to be on cloud nine for quite some
time yet.
Aside from Burgess, Queensland
finished with two other Junior Dirt Track National Championships.
Jake Allen backed up last year's victory in the 80cc 4/ 11-u14yrs
to claim this year's 85cc/150cc 4 stroke 11-u13yrs, while
Tyson Nelson defended the 125cc 13-u16s Championship he won
last year.
Other notable top 3 Queensland
performances included:
Tyson Nelson - 2nd in the
250cc 4 stroke 13-u16syrs
Jack Burgess - 3rd in the
80-160cc 4 stroke 11-u16yrs
Jake Allen - 3rd in the 80cc 4 stroke 11-u14yrs
Full results from the 2008
Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships available from
the Motorcycling Australia website.
<back
to top>
Two
new Queensland Junior National Long Track
Champions
41 Queensland riders traveled the long haul to Cowra last
weekend (12/13 April) to compete in the 2008 Australian Junior
Long Track Championships.
The weekend ended with two Queenslanders
(Jake Allen and Torey Bellamy) coming away with national
championships, and a host of our other boy’s putting
in outstanding performances.
As the trailers rolled into Cowra
on Saturday morning with the sun shining and the bikes
ready to fire, 145 riders waited for Australia’s
former World 500cc Champion, Wayne Gardner to officially
open the Australian Junior Long Track Championships.
Saturday started with one round of
all important practice to get bikes set up and some familiarity
with the track in preparation for the heats, followed by
2 qualifying heats and then one heat and 3 finals on Sunday.
The first race of the day
was 80cc 4stroke 11-u14yrs, Queensland was well represented
with the likes of Tyson Snow, Billy Grimes, and Jake Allen
(who had borrowed his 07 Australian Title bike back for the
week-end) having a win first up, with Snow finishing 2nd.
The second heat in this class was won by Snow after Allen
had blown his bike just off the start line. Brady Kurtz also
experienced bike problems in practice.
Queenslander Zaine Kennedy had a battle
on his hands with his rival from Cowra Ben Cook in the
80cc 4 stroke 8–u11yrs,
Kennedy with a 1st & 2nd and Cook with two 1st, roll
on Sunday.
In the 65cc 7-u9yrs class Queensland had up and coming riders
on their first visit to Cowra, notably Reece Yunker and Bailey
Jung, who both preformed well and were looking forward to
Sunday.
Queensland had a strong representation
in the 65cc 9-u13yrs class, with eight riders traveling
to Cowra. Zac Levy won two of the heats. Zaine Kennedy
experiencing bike troubles, later finding out that he had
one of Cowra’s famous
thorns in his air filter.
In the 85cc & 150cc 4 stroke 9-u11yrs
class we had 5 riders, who all experienced varying degrees
of difficulties in trying to come to terms with speed of
the track.
In the 85cc & 150cc 4 stroke 11-u13yrs
class Queensland had Jake Allen and Zac Levy both with
perfect scores with Josh McGrath and Tyson Snow not far
behind.
Corey Schaffer had a perfect score in the 85cc 13-u16yrs
class with Torey Bellamy and Luke Burgess sorting their bikes
out and on his tail.
The 125cc 13-u16 yrs class was one that may have been easier
drawing a winner out of a hat, such was the quality of rider
on display. Riders such as Tyson Nelson, James Barr, Mitchell
Grant, Corey Schaffer, Luke Burgess, Jake Browne and Mitchell
Guest against the likes of Todd Kurtz, Grant Carnock, and
Daniel Begley on his 125cc Slider, all had legitimate claims.
Nelson probably being our great hope after a perfect score
on Saturday.
The big one – the 250cc 4 stroke class had 3 full
grids, so just making the Sunday’s finals would be
a feat on its own. Tyson Nelson and Luke Burgess both having
a great day and look like qualifying.
Sunday, and what a different a day
makes with the rain arriving at around 2am and then clearing,
when the gates opened the rain cloud loomed and the thunder
sounded, the event did have a rain date but everybody was
champing at the bite to race.
Just before riders briefing the heavens
opened, the Clerk was ever the optimist “we will leave it for around
30 minutes and we will be right to go” he was pretty
close. Only for the heavens to open again just before the
second of the day’s finals.
Racing’s back on and none goes
with in coo-ee of Matt Davies in the 80cc 4 strokes. Davies
had a perfect score with three wins in the final series
on 75pts with Queensland Tyson Snow just behind in 2nd.
Zaine Kennedy picks up a 2nd in the 80cc 4 stroke 8-u11yrs
with a hard fought battle with local rider Ben Cook.
Zac Levy, battling bikes problems, has to settle for 2nd
on his 65cc 9-u13yrs after a battle with Matt Davies.
Jake Allen had a perfect week-end
even after blowing up his 80cc 4 stroke, winning every
heat and final in the 85cc & 150cc
4 stroke 11-u13yrs, and proving to be the only rider capable
of preventing Matt Davies from winning his 3rd title for
the week-end. Allen 1st, Davies 2nd and McLellan 3rd.
Torey Bellamy must have had a great
Saturday night because he came out firing, winning the
85cc & 150cc 4 stroke
13-u16yrs, from Nathan Trigg in 2nd and fellow Queenslander
Corey Schaffer in 3rd.
In the 125cc finals the surprise of the meeting was Jake
Browne, with top finishes in the first two heats, in the
end the slider of Daniel Begley came out on top of the podium
with two Queenslanders Tyson Nelson (2nd) and Corey Schaffer
(3rd) rounding out the other podium positions. It was a great
effort from Schaffer who has just move up to the class and
only qualified in 12th place for the final.
The 250cc 4 stroke class was won by NSW rider Alex Davies
who also rode a slider and won every race over the week-end
with a beautiful display of riding, with Tyson Nelson coming
in 2nd, adding this to his 2nd in the 125cc.
All in all a successful
weekend for our Queensland riders, and it was universally
agreed that the Cowra Motorcycle Racing Club put on an excellent
meeting, and should be congratulated.
Full results available from
www.ma.org.au
<back
to top>
Keira
Smith Number 1 at Dirt Track Championships
19 year-old Kiera Smith
(pictured) from Ayr, yesterday claimed her first Queensland
Women’s
Dirt Track Championship amidst a hard fought battle and a
full grid of twelve fast ladies at Mick Doohan Raceway,
Northgate.
An experienced dirt track
racer Smith didn’t
have the day all to herself having to work
hard to get her two point win over fellow dirt track regular’s
Megan Doyle and defending champion - Ashleigh Davey who finished
in second and third respectively.
“The track conditions
were sic. I thought it
held up well and was different to ride every race. The
competition was good, and I loved having a full grid of chix
to race” Smith commented after collecting her first
state title.
Davey, the 2007 champion
may have had her chances of regaining her title hampered
after a nasty fall with another rider in the 250 4 stroke
class early in the day, which left her hobbling through the
pits clutching various ice packs.
In only its second year,
the women’s class filled its grid.
Factory Husky Chix rider Rebecca Bateman
(current and multiple Australian Women’s Supermoto
Champion) and her team mate Jenna Grimsey were in attendance.
Queensland Yamaha Girl’s
Team riders Tamara Gray (multiple Queensland Women’s
Motocross Champion) and Brooke Thiemann tried their hand
at dirt track for the first time.
A strong influx of
North Queensland girls including the likes of Smith,
Davey, Doyle and Samantha Van Eerde and Tania and
Jodie Millard set the day up for some great racing.
Smith came blazing out of
the gates in the first heat to take the win by a copnsiderable
margin over Davey and Doyle who rounded out the top three.
In heat two, Smith again
had a strong start getting herself into the lead leaving
Doyle and Davey to battle again. This
time it was Doyle who got the upper hand by claiming the
second from Davey.
The final two heats of the
day (round 3 and 4) were a mirror image of one another. This
time however, Megan Doyle stole the show with two tremendous
starts that won her both heats. Kiera
Smith fought hard to get past Doyle, but both times was unsuccessful
and took seconds in both heats. Ashleigh Davey battled
her injuries and managed to still place another two thirds.
The organisers of the event
were so impressed with the turn out of girls that a decision
was made there and then to amend the Supplemenetary Regulations
for the Gold Coast Cup dirt track meeting scheduled to take
place at Mike Hatcher Race Park on 3rd & 4th
May, to now include a women’s
class.
Full results from the Queensland
Junior & Senior Dirt Track Championships are availble from
here.
Supplementary Regulations
for the Gold Coast Cup can be obtained from here.
<back
to top>
Queensland
Junior & Senior Dirt Track Championships
- results
Results from the
2008 Queensland Junior and Senior Dirt Championships held
at Mick Doohan Raceway, Raubers Road, Northgate,
on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th April have been released
and are available from here.
A heavy downpour of rain
on Sunday afternoon resulted in the last leg of racing being
cancelled.
<back
to top>
Davey
set to defend Title
 The 2008 Queensland Junior
and Senior Dirt Championships will be run at Mick Doohan
Raceway, Raubers Road, Northgate, this Saturday 5th & Sunday
6th April, and one rider particularly keen to get amongst
it will be Townsville's Ashleigh Davey.
Davey will be out to defend
her Senior Ladies All Powers class which was only introduced
for the first time in 2007.
Davey, along with fellow
North Queenslanders Megan
Doyle and Samantha Van Eerde will make the trip down from Townsville
to take on the best from South East Queensland, including a
number of profile senior women motocrossers keen to snatch
victory.
“My preparation for
my (title) defence isn’t
going so well, Davey explained.
The weather up here
(Townsville) has been awful and I've only had one
race meeting (this year) on the flat track. Davey
said.
“I have never ridden
the North Brisbane track, but I've heard plenty of good things
about it, so I'm very keen to get down there and race” Davey
added.
19 year old Davey, whom also hold
the title of 2007 Queensland number 7 in women’s
motocross, strongly believes that both disciplines compliment
one another.
“The benefits of racing
flat track and motocross for me is that I’m always
learning something new. On flat track I find I can push
myself further because of the motocross cornering that we
do (right hand turns, rutted tracks etc). Whereas
on motocross when a track has flat corners I get a little
excited because
Racing this weekend will
also see the best junior and senior riders in action. For
more information contact Race Secretary - Mandi Castles on
on 0403 699 461.
<back
to top>
Queensland
Dirt Track Championship Supp Regs released
The
Supplementary Regulations and Entry Forms for the 2008 Queensland
Junior and Senior Dirt Track Championships have been released
and are available from this link.
The event will be held at
Mick Doohan Raceway - Raubers Road, Northgate on the weekend
of 5th & 6th April 2008.
Entries are open forthwith
and close last mail Monday 31st March 2008.
More information
on this event is avaialble by contacting the Race Secretary
- Amanda Castles on 0403 699 461 (after 6pm).
<back
to top>
|
