VICTRORIAN SOLO TITLE TO BE HARD FOUGHT

The Showcase Jewellers, Victorian Solo Speedway Title, to be held at Mildura’s Olympic Park on Saturday night, 5th December, will be one of the most hard fought in recent years.

Australian Under 21 Champion and recent Team Under 21 Australia, Max Fricke, from Mansfield, should fancy his chances after just finishing ahead of local star, Justin Sedgmen, in the recent Phil Crump International Trophy, but speedway journeymen, Ty Proctor, from Longwarry, will be keen to maximise his chances of both a Victorian Title and a result which could see him return to England in season 2016 to again ride in the British League.

All three top line riders have been taking every opportunity to get into good race form ready for a grueling Australian Solo Championship series in early January 2016, so they will all be looking to make every post a winner on Saturday night. This top group will not only have to watch out for each other, but will also need to be mindful of a strong middle field group who could steal points given any small opportunity. It is good to see a strong middle to the Victorian field as any one of the younger brigade could step up on the podium, by just making the best of their opportunities.

The younger to middle age group, which includes, Cooper Riordan, Jordy Stewart, Jaimon Lidsey, Jack Fallon and Brodie Waters, are all in with a chance of doing well and a good result here could do wonders for their speedway future. Any of this group could well do with a top four placing in Victoria to enhance their chances of “living the dream”, by riding speedway professionally in England in the next couple of years.

Other locals in the event include Chris Ferguson, Brock Gates and veteran, Jason Stewart, who will be riding again against his son, Jordy. Stewart, the elder, is fresh from a good victory in Bathurst just two weeks ago at a Long Track event, which is a regular annual meeting at the Bathurst Showgrounds. The Stewarts enjoy riding against each other, which is an occurrence rare in speedway, but no quarter will be given by either rider in the family.

Victorian visitors to Mildura, apart from the fancied Proctor include Jack Morrison and the Tillett brothers, Bill and Brad, who are becoming regular attendees at Mildura solo meetings.

Regular SA riders, Luke Bacskai and Dakota Ballantyne make up the sixteen riders in the Title field.

The significance of this year’s Victorian Solo Title is that the English Visa authorities have identified a top four finish in any of the Australian State Championships as mandatory criteria for a “Working Visa” entry to UK to ride in the British League for the ensuing season. The way is now clearly laid out for qualification, so at least the riders are not in the dark as to who might get a visa if they are good enough. With patriality qualification now moving on by the generations, it is now vital that riders can secure an opportunity to ride in the UK, so the State Championship takes on a new significance.

The Motorcycling Victoria, Speedway Management Committee have been forthright in only considering candidates for whom the opportunity to finish in the top four could allow them to ride overseas in the future. This action must be applauded, as it is a responsibility to foster the

sport and to have Victorians with a chance to ride overseas as a professional rider can only improve speedway in the State, over time.

The Championship format, where each rider rides against every other rider in the field, is seen as a great measuring tool, so riders will want all the good luck to go their way on the night so as they can get the best result possible. There are heats where a start gate position or an unexpected opponent doing well could cost any particular rider dearly. Even for the top group of riders their chances could be affected by the luck of the draw or any particular rider doing well on the night.

Mildura Club officials are keen to see the outcome of the meeting which has the top fourteen Victorian riders engaged. “It will be a look into the future of Victorian Solo speedway”, said Club President, Gavin Sedgmen. “We have a number of boys, who with any sort of luck and good preparation, could see their speedway future go forward from this meeting”, Sedgmen added.

Support events will be from Junior 250cc lads, riding on the big track as well as a small group of local Sidecars.

At the recent World Teams Under 21 Practice, held on the Thursday night prior to the Championship event, many patrons and particularly the International FIM Officials were glowing in their praise of the skill and style of our 250cc riders. Some European countries have been reticent to adopt the 250cc machines as a regular training machine for junior speedway, but after the showing in front of the FIM Track Racing Commission members, a different attitude may now prevail.

Local Sidecars include Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin, Nathan Cock / Kane McMahon, AJ Pearce with Brodie Gebhart and Chris Dess / Brenton Kerr. This group will begin a season long, fine tuning process in readiness to try to make it through a tough Australian Sidecar Title Qualifying event on Friday, 8th April, next year, the night before the Australian Championship, which will be held here at Olympic Park on Saturday 9th April 2016.

A Junior support event will be held before the Victorian Solo Title, but the younger fry will be more focused on their State Championship, which will be held on Sunday morning, 6th December where Sign on will commence at 10:00am, with Practice at 11:30 am and racing set the start at Noon.

Great grandstand accommodation is available at Olympic Park and patrons are reminded that excellent and full catering is also available. The License held by the Club prevents the admission of any BYO drinks by Law. Patrons are most welcome to use the grandstand facilities or bring a rug or chair and avail themselves of a spot on the grassy banks.

Gates will open at Olympic Park at 5:00pm. Senior racing will commence at 7:30pm.

Next meeting at Olympic Park will be the Sidecar Masters event which will be held on Sunday, 27th December. A full field has already nominated, so grading will need to take place before the program is set.

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