Darren & Sharon Boocock Scholarship Australian Tour 2012

[BigFatDave]

The Darren & Sharon Boocock Scholarship Tour Downunder, November-December 2012.

 

Yes, it’s on again. For the fifth year running the Scholarship will be helping young riders from the UK and New Zealand improve their skills as well as providing a shot in the arm for Queensland and Australian Speedway.

 

Despite the current economic climate this year the scholarship has been able to come up with enough sponsorship to cover a six-meeting program for three young British riders; Kyle Howarth, Kyle Newman and Tom Perry; and one up-and-coming New Zealander, Hayden Sims.

 

Kyle Newman will be making his fifth riding visit to Australia, Kyle Howarth is here for the third time while Tom and Hayden are on their second trip, although in the case of Hayden Sims it will be his first year on a 500. Hayden’s mother Maree will be accompanying him, and she’s more than capable of keeping the lads in line.

 

Kyle Newman has proved himself in the past few years as a first-class ambassador for British Speedway, while Kyle Howarth, Tom Perry and Hayden Sims have already endeared themselves to Aussie fans for their take-no-prisoners attitude to racing and their willingness to go the extra mile to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with local fans.

 

During their stay in Australia they will be based in Townsville in a purpose-built accommodation unit (OK, it’s a bunkhouse!) with a modern, roomy workshop adjacent to the house of Bev and Marcus Williams, the driving forces behind the Scholarship, and they’ll be aided in their endeavours by several local identities, too numerous to mention here, who will be taking care of the Tour Logistics and teaching the lads all they could possibly wish to learn about the mechanical requirements of operating motorcycles in a Tropical environment at a variety of tracks the length and breadth of Queensland.

 

The Itinerary is as follows:

 

Saturday 17^th November. Mareeba Speedway, Far North Queensland. (The meeting format has yet to be confirmed)

 

Saturday 24^th November. Queensland Under-21s Solos, North Brisbane Speedway.

 

Saturday December 1^st. Queensland Senior Solos, Brandon Speedway.

 

Saturday December 8^th. Speedway Bonanza, Maryborough Speedway.

 

Saturday December 15^th. Macs Speedway, Mackay. (The meeting format has yet to be confirmed)

 

Saturday December 22^nd. Teams Meeting, North Brisbane Speedway.

 

A quick geography lesson may be required for those of you who may not know one end of Queensland from the other:

 

Mareeba Speedway, at Kerribee Park - Springs Road, Mareeba in Far North Queensland, is one of three new venues for the Scholarship, and indeed is pretty new to Motorcycle Speedway; this could be the first Solo meeting at the Venue. Situated in the heart of the beautiful Atherton tablelands, on the banks of the Barron River. Mareeba is also the

starting point of the annual Wheelbarrow Race to Chillagoe, commemorating the early Mining Pioneers of the area, who back in the day set off for the Goldfields of the Hinterland pushing all their belongings in Wheelbarrows.

 

North Brisbane Speedway, in Raubers Rd Northgate, SE QLD, is opposite Brisbane Airport across the M1 Motorway.

 

Brandon Speedway, in Ayr, North Queensland, is in the heart of the Canefields, near the Jumping-off point for the Whitsunday Islands.

 

Maryborough Speedway, in Gympie Road, Tinana is inland from the Central QLD Coast midway between Brisbane and Gladstone. Historically a car track, Maryborough have recently begun hosting Solo and Sidecars on a regular basis. A 360m circuit, this is their 55^th Anniversary Year.

 

Mac’s Speedway near Mackay, in Bells Road, Palmyra, Walkerston Qld, is halfway between Rockhampton and Townsville, and is another relative newcomer to the solo scene. 400m on the pole line, it’ll be one of the largest tracks the lads will be riding.

 

Finally, a huge thank-you is due to all the Sponsors, both great and small, who have helped to make this tour possible.

 

In no particular order, they are:

 

The Stoddart Group; GM Australia; SPEX; CPD Mechanical; Regina Chains; Silkolene; RMCS Racing; Gordon Pairman; Stuha; Talon Engineering; Tomi the Czech (answers to Lubos!); RRE; BFD Racing (!!) Grumpy Grampy Racing (!!!) Tappat Link; Just Concepts; Dan Thompson Architectural Drafting; Burdekin Motors Group; K & M Filters; Howarth Motors; Pharoah Homes; Pegasus Speed Needs; Scandic CNC; Future Sports Motorcycles and a host of volunteer dogsbodies.

 

Special thanks must go to Major Sponsors Ros and Steve Koppe from Future Sport Motorcycles, without whom the Tour would never have got off the ground, let alone made it to five years in a row.

 

Also deserving of praise and thanks are Lindsay Granger, General manager of Motorcycle Queensland, and each and every one of the tireless workers on the MQ Speedway Sub-committee, without whom this tour would not have been possible.

 

Incidentally it's still not too late to get on board: three more young British riders are currently in reserve in case more funding can be found.

[spiderweb]

Sounds like a good little tour - hope they have better luck at Maryborough than the Sidecars earlier this year!

 

Any chance we'll be seeing any of the lads at Gillman?

[BigFatDave]

All depends on Sponsorship, Rodders, and how long they're staying over for. I'm going over for the Brandon meeting on Dec 1st so I'll check on what's happening. It'd be great to see Kyle Newman in the Aussies again, and I was most impressed with how much Junior Howarth has progressed this year. Tom the Pom'll probably be too busy chasing sheilas again, or to be more honest being chased!!

Shame there's not enough sponsorship to bring the Worralls and Ash Morris back over, but alas financial support has been very hard to come by from Pomgolia, despite Laurence Rogers' sterling fundraising efforts.

[MrMungo]

It's a great idea, but it's just a shame there are not some different riders on the scholarship. It might just be me, but seems like it's the same riders most years

 

Whilst not involved within the scholarship, Lewis Blackbird and Joe Jacobs are also off to Australia during the winter from what I've been told, so I guess they might be seen at some of the aforementioned tracks at some point. Almost a full team!

[BigFatDave]

In order to take part in the Scholarship, riders have to come up with Airfares and Pocket money for two months. The Scholarship provides everything else, from toothpaste to methanol, with everything in between, including transport to & from tracks for practice and meetings, plus all accommodation. When you take into account the sheer size of Australia, indeed just of Queensland, the costs of running the tour are prohibitive; it's a miracle this year's tour is on at all, especially given the almost complete lack of interest from British Speedway Clubs, who are the main beneficiaries of the finished product.

The benefits of spending a few months riding on a variety of Australian circuits can easily by seen by watching the improvement in riders who've already taken part. If they want to come, all they hafta do is come up with the bucks.

I agree, MrMungo, it would be great to have more riders and different riders taking up the challenge, but it's not up to the Organisers to do everything for them, wouldn't you agree? Prospective Riders have to get out there and raise funds as well.

There have also been approaches from Denmark and Sweden to get their riders involved; it all comes down to money in the end.

[BigFatDave]

Great News for next year's tour: in 2013 the Scholarship is looking at running an eight man team and heading further South, with Kurri Kurri firmly on the agenda. Among the names bandied around so far is Bradley Andrews from Auckland, NZ, who rode in the UK in second halves this year under the watchful eye of SGP Rider Jason Bunyan. Bradley is the grandson of Bob Andrews, who rode for the Dons & the Heathens back in the day.

[marcusthepom]

It's a great idea, but it's just a shame there are not some different riders on the scholarship. It might just be me, but seems like it's the same riders most years

 

Whilst not involved within the scholarship, Lewis Blackbird and Joe Jacobs are also off to Australia during the winter from what I've been told, so I guess they might be seen at some of the aforementioned tracks at some point. Almost a full team!

 

last year we had the following new riders on tour...richie worrall,steven worrall,tom perry and ashley morris...so mungo im just

not sure how you can say what you have.every rider in the uk who is british and shows interest in the scholarship has a chance to tour.

this season would have seen riders like ashley birks,dan greenwood and ben reade get a chance along with perhaps a few others.

the scholarship likes to give every rider from every club the chance to tour,however im not chasing them,they need to talk to me

via email and phone etc.

 

there are some lads who havent been invited to ozzie who have shown interest because my contacts in the uk feel it would

be wasted on them.this year we have tom perry out only for the second time,we like to give the young riders at least two or three years

if we feel they deserve it.kyle howarth comes out again to defend his queensland championship,kyle newman like wise.kyle

came out last year but couldnt ride due to injury.kyle resides with our family for the winter period yet due to injuries

has only rode for two years out off four.

 

i really get sick of all the negative comments via guys like you on this forum,heres a great idea mungo......raise 3000 pounds and

tell me which rider you would like to send out.its bloody hard work getting this tour of the ground each year,its none-profit,we do it

because we love speedway....however the keyboard warriors give me the ....well best not said.

 

for those of you who want other riders out on tour its easy.......back the brits by putting your hands

in your pockets like us ozzies do.then you are more than welcome to have a say on who tours and who doesnt.

[greyhoundp]

Are we saying £3k covers the cost to send 1 rider to Australia , and if that can be raised then we can nominate said rider ?.

[marcusthepom]

Are we saying £3k covers the cost to send 1 rider to Australia , and if that can be raised then we can nominate said rider ?.

hi ...thats a good question,each rider has a cost associated with them.3k depending on the club and rider might well

cover two more additional british lads.we arnt being tight however the cost of the tour this year mushroomed due to very

few local meetings.

 

for next years tour i will lay it all out for every body to get an idea of the costs.some times adding one extra rider

could increase the costs two fold.it depends on transport etc.the scholarship has grown very quickly and we have had a hard

time keeping up with bikes engines etc.its just endless...however its most rewarding.

 

riders can put there names foward,and it helps if the rider can help pay his way either via the club or sponsors.

if you had a rider in mind and he was on our radar we would be happy to look at what the costs would be.

we dont expect the full cost to be met by the rider,however next years tour will require all riders to help a little.

 

we will be racing in every state in australia over a 10 week period....miles to travel will exceed 20,000 klms,then of course

theres food,motels etc etc etc etc.im more than happy to have people offer advice and ideas to the scholarship,so if

your interested in helping just email me on morstonemanor@hotmail.com or visit our web site www.ozbrit.com