Despite a podium in last year’s inaugural Flat Track World Championship, Aussie dirt track star Jarred Brook missed out competing this year but is giving his all in the Aussie Flat Track Nationals. AMCN’s Matt O’Connell talks with him…

The first question is a tough one. You’re meant to be racing the Flat Track World Championship in Europe right now – but the deal fell over immediately before the first round. How are you feeling?
It knocked me around for a fair amount of time, and to be honest it still does a bit. I just felt disappointed and a little embarrassed because I had so many people helping me out to get me over there.

What happened was out of my control but I felt like I’d let people down.

Are you able to tell us how it panned out?
Last year I had linked up with a bike shop in Europe that raced flat track who were helping me out with technical support – whatever I needed with the bike – suspension, engines, everything. A personal sponsor here in Australia owned the bike I was riding and that was left in Europe, but I bought all our race parts back home because I had already started using parts from the European shop by the end of last year. This season, the agreement with the shop was that they were going to continue supporting everything to do with the bike. The plan was to use all of their parts, plus it involved a car and accommodation. Then they pulled out of the series the Wednesday prior to the first round.

Brook says suspension set-up is the key

We were all gutted for you back here. I can’t even imagine how you felt at that point.

I’d put so much effort into it, particularly in the six months previous, and I felt like I was riding well. It wasn’t just me, a lot of people were helping out getting me ready with training and preparation. There weren’t really any options to race in the championship after the deal fell over, the timelines were just too tight – but also last year there wasn’t much of an opportunity to make friends or contacts in the paddock other than the people I stayed with – they were racing in the championship as well. It’s difficult to establish contacts because of the language barrier. There was certainly no way to pull something together in a couple of days.

When you returned, how easy was it to move on? Were you able to stay motivated to train?
It took me a couple of weeks to get back into training. I took it easy for a few weeks, just laying low. I’ve got some really close friends and family back home and they were fantastic; picked me right up. Then I started riding a little bit and got myself ready for AFTN.

Jarred Brook - 1
Brook races a Husqvarna, prepared by himself and his father

So… you’re back home, you’re now leading the Aussie Flat Track Nationals (AFTN) after blitzing the opening weekend in Brisbane. Can you give us your perspective on racing 19-inch tyres versus the traditional Aussie 21-18-inch set-up? You’ve adapted well to both.

I don’t really have a preference when I’m riding, but the 19s are definitely the way to go. People say it’s for the future; I just feel like it makes sense because it brings Australia into line with what everyone else is doing around the world. I enjoy riding on both, I’ve grown up riding on 21s and 18s and I still feel there will always be a place for that in Australia. But the 19s are cheaper to use – and I wouldn’t necessarily say safer – but I would say they are easier to ride. I think that comes down to them being the same tyre front and rear, so they slide the same. It makes them easier to control with a more predictable response.

When it comes to setting up a flat-track bike, what is the most crucial component to get right?
Suspension, 100 percent. It’s just dad and me at the track and we have a pretty good base setting. I’ve ridden at pretty much all the tracks in Australia and I have data from all of them. Then I see how the track is turning out during the day – if it’s dry, if it’s got a bit of dirt on it – then it’s a matter of changing clickers to find the right feeling. It comes down to fine tuning and riding on many different tracks. All of the dirt tracks are different – but they are not wildly different. It depends on the day, on the weather and then drawing on experience.

Are you surprised at how well a 19-inch flat-track series has taken off here?
Not really surprised, no. The more people who ride on the 19s, they realise how much fun it is and they just enjoy them. What Dave (Maddock) is doing with AFTN; it’s a very professionally run series – the social media presence, the Superpole format – plus you get great value for money for the amount of laps and track time you get. 

Being a fully fledged national championship is also a huge thing.