whowasthatberntpersson

Justin is the brother of Ryan and is already 16, has been riding 125cc and 350cc speedway until recently. Won a fair bit in junior speedway, had some bad luck in the Australian Under 16 Championships this year(I think he was second before his bike blew up in the final) Cameron Heeps is from Western Australia, not as highly rated as some of the other Aussies but a neat rider...has lacked competition in WA..think he may struggle. #Arthur Sissis# - For me along with Taylor Poole the one to watch, totally dominated this years Australian Under 16 Championships, will give this a shake if he's on the right machinery. Clinton Dennis - Getting a bit too big for these bikes in my opinion. He's had a good year on the junior bikes and has been riding in the 350cc class also.

Possible additions to the Grand Prix calander maybe?

The last big meeting for 2008 ' The Laurels ' for Junior and Senior Solos was cancelled a couple of weeks ago. Here is a youtube clip from the Silver Sash which was held at the Gold Coast in February. Ivan Mauger is seen presenting the Junior Finalists with their Sash's at the end. Some good racing from the Under 16's. Next meeting at the Gold Coast is the annual Sel Walton Classic on 8th June, that will feature all classes with special emphasis on the older machines. Next weekend their is a practice at the track with one or two riders from New Zealand having a spin, then the following day there will be a meeting at North Brisbane.

Results and Links to video clips from North Brisbane last Sunday 'Bushrangers' Classic Speedway Club North Brisbane - 13th April 2008 Junior Final: 1.Nick Morris, 2.Jake Moore, 3.Harley Brigden, 4.Joel Porter. Solo Final: 1.Geoff Tomkin, 2. Harley Horwood, 3. Craig Hyde (fell,rmt), 4. Kevin Beazley. 350 Demonstration - Nick Morris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMjYo2rKASE Evo Final: 1. Steve Burt, 2.Mal Burt, 3. Dave Wilkinson, 4. Ron Hall. Pre-84 Sidecars: 1. Peter Wilken/Kelly Cooper 2. Dave Buxton/? Modern Sidecars: 1. Ross Brown/? 2. Kim French/Steve Kelly.

A clip from the 2008 South Australian Under 16 Championships can be found at Three restarts before the final was completed. Some of the tightest first turns you'll see anywhere. The rut exiting turn two certainly made things interesting.

350cc Clip from the Gold Coast on 29th and 30th March. Nick making his official debut, only doing demos until he's old enough to race in June

Here's a youtube clip from the meeting held on 29th March 2008. Semi Finals and Final

I think a few of the Aussies will be taking there own bikes this time, and they are already practicing on them. One of them may just give the comp a bit of a shake up this year - Arthur Sissis will be right amongst them if he's on a good bike.

Melbourne is the strong favourite, has to be a venue with a roof in my opinion. So the Telstra Dome is a very short priced favourite. Now lets hope they are sensible and have a Malaysian and or New Zealand GP within a week or two, to save costs and to help me organise a racing holiday. A little too early for wild card picking and as for Mount Gambier staging a GP...No Chance, it would be way down the list..if existing tracks were to be considered the Brisbane Ekka would be top of my list, absolutely fantastic venue, track would need altering but that wouldn't be as difficult as laying a complete one night only track. If a roof isn't absolutely vital, Suncorp Stadium = very similar to Cardiff and in a great location for public transport / airport etc http://www.suncorpstadium.com.au/default.asp?PageId=58

Thanks Iris, I'd be interested to hear what comes out of this meeting. I've discussed similar things with Ivan Mauger and Mitch Shirra in recent weeks, everyone seems to have different ideas. I certainly think it would be for the good of the sport if all countries worked together and had the same classes. There are a few problems with any changes though, a. What happens with existing machines and infrastructure if they are replaced. b. Getting all the authorities worldwide to agree is almost impossible. Australia has recently introduced the 350cc class which seems to be working on a small scale, I don't think there is any chance of changing that now, too many people have spent money. Probably the same with the 85cc machines in Scandanavia. Our 125cc scene is being looked at though (apparantly), I think a few people are finding it hard to get parts for the old honda's, and the chinese engines need big money spent on them to get them going.

Any other news from the meeting Anth? Who many riders did they end up getting? Any chance of individual scores from the heats?

Still no confirmation, my guess is; Poole, Davies, Kurtz X2, Dennis, Ward, Heeps, Sedgman but I'm only guessing based on who went last year and what I've heard (other possibilities (Blain, Campton, Sissis)

I've heard Cameron Heeps and Darcy Ward are going. Darcy is 16 before the event too.

All I know is its in Denmark in June this year, have heard that nine Australians have been selected and there will also be a Denmark v Australia test. Anyone got anymore news? Who the riders are?

I thought there was also an environmental issue regarding the two strokes?

Very shrewd move in my opinion. I have heard a rumour that the 250's will be used in the World Youth Championships in the future. The same event that has been dominated by Scandanavians on the 80cc two strokes. The man behind the push for more 250 racing - Ivan Mauger.

I'd say 14 is very optimistic indeed BFD. Not sure what is happening regarding nominations for the Gosford meeting, however I do know the Gold Coast have only mustered 7 for their big one on the 29th March, 4 from NSW and 3 Queenslanders. With Robert out that only leaves the Victorians, and there's only a couple of them and I'm not sure if they will travel (to the GC that is). Gold Coast lineup so far; Darcy Ward, Tyson Nelson Clinton Dennis Todd kurtz Mason Campton Alex Davies Taylor Poole I'll have a stab in the dark and say they'll be lucky to get 12 for Gosford, and they need that many to make it an official Aussie Title. People are saying there are currently 18 350 riders however some of them aren't old enough to race yet (including my young fella) and some of them won't travel.

Rockhampton has been cancelled because of the bad weather. No rearranged date has been released at this stage.

Still no official word if and when this meeting will take place. Word has it that Gosford originally applied to stage this meeting however the last i heard was it could be going to Newcastle. Apparantly its in the hands of MA now which I hate to say could mean ...well anything could happen. This meeting is supposed to take place next month and the Gold Coast has already put in place another big 350 meeting scheduled for 29th March, which it is hoped will not clash with the Australian event if it does take place. There also seems to be some confusion over where the 350's can race, although some of the MA sanctioned events have been on large tracks (Sydney Showground, Mt Gambier, etc) so hopefully the kids can ride without the initial restrictions at many of the larger venues.

Another two meetings on the Queensland Speedway calender this Saturday night 16th February 2008. Rockhampton Showgrounds - Queensland Sidecar Championships and Solos / The solos are split with four North Queensland based riders in one pool and four locals in another. Gatton Showgrounds - Mixed car / bike meeting.

Despite the poor weather (lots of rain) leading up to this event we still had a top night of racing in very warm humid conditions (but it thankfully stayed dry) This was a mixed car / bike show with Solos, Sidecars and Junior solos. It was also the very first meeting at this venue for the juniors, the track having been put down fairly recently. The solo section was won by veteran Brisbane rider Craig Hyde, Craig had a spell in England in the late eighties and showed he can still ride a bike with a close points win against two North Queenslanders - Damien Koppe (Son of former British based rider steve Koppe (Canterbury, Exeter, etc) and Scott Mckenna. Hydies first ride on the ex Scott Nicholls bike was outstanding, Craig missed the start by a long shot and worked his way through the field with some fine outside moves. The juniors also produced some good racing racing on a track that did break up badly. Nick Morris was dominant in four of his five races having shed a chain whilst leading his first. This ended up costing him as he was pipped to the post by young Matty Day and also Hayden Barr who had his best meeting ever. My first visit to this venue and I have to give it a big thumbs up, good facilities although the pits were crowded with all the cars, good turnout of fans (a local told me they were all going stir crazy because of the weather) so that could explain the large numbers. Good racetracks and it must be said the big track did hold up well despite the car racing, its a huge circular track well over 400 metres. The organisers handed commemorative engraved silver platters to all the junior competetors, a very nice gesture. The Showground Society are hoping to get permission to run once a month. Called into North Brisbane Speedway for a practice on the way home, after a six hour drive. A good turnout there too with Glasgow based Trent Leverington having a spin prior to heading back to the UK.

I see your point BFD, however its pretty obvious that the 350's have been a star attraction just lately. Sounds like the promotion had some kind of axe to grind by not having them on...buggered if I know for sure but thats what I reckon.

I may be wrong but I think the current lack of senior riders in SA (and Queensland) is due to the lull we had in junior racing. There were a couple of years when no riders were progressing due to the lack of junior racing, particularly in SA but other States are suffering just the same. As an example, Queensland hardly has any senior riders in the South East (a few more in North Queensland but they don't all travel to compete in the bigger meetings) The juniors are currently strong in QLD (and building in SA) however most of the kids are under 14, so no new senior riders are on the horizon after the likes of Darcy Ward steps up. Hopefully most of the kids will jump on the 350's and stay with the sport, otherwise we will have a period where very few riders are coming through. Which brings me back to the point Junior Fan made, why would Gillman foolishly (in my opinion) refuse to have 350's on at the National Championships (when all other tracks did), when they have hardly any senior riders locally - not really looking after the future of the sport in SA are they? For the record the top juniors in SA are; Arthur Sissis (12) - four years away Robert Branford (14) Two years away Robert Medson (almost 14) Two years away and in Queensland Darcy Ward - 16 in May (the only rider ready to step up) Tyson Nelson - 14 Nick Morris - 13 Clinton Dennis - 15 in March Victoria is similar (Only really Sedgy, Munro and Barnfiled), NSW have a few coming through (Poole, Kurtz, etc) but its similar in all States.

http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?19/01/2008.PPS

Fear not my Red Breasted friend. I do believe Kozza had a slice or two of bad luck, besides that Mildura is as far from Kings Lynn as you are ever likely to get, in distance, and track shape. Kozza is an all or nothing type of rider and Kings Lynn will suit him down to the ground. Mildura takes some mastering, quite a few in that field have local track experience.