It’s Fricke to the Max!

Max Fricke actually won the Australian crown for the fourth time with an emphatic victory at the Kurri Kurri track last Saturday (28 January).

Riders get five years in the Under 21 ranks and Fricke put his name alongside Leigh Adams and Chris Holder as four-time winners – Adams placed third in his second year, Holder was unplaced in his first and Fricke last year, his fourth, was placed third behind Jack Holder.

At Kurri Kurri, the Big 3 of Fricke, Holder and Brady Kurtz could not have had more varied nights.

Fricke was superb, a 15-point maximum in the heats where he was only briefly headed once in a heat that was stopped when two riders went down in the first corner. He then led all the way in the decider, albeit with Holder not far in arrears.

Holder had an eventful path to 14 points, beaten only by Fricke, but along the way he only headed Jordan Stewart when Stewart had his kill-switch come out, then he had to lay down while running last before he won the re-run of another heat and then he was squeezed and fell at the first corner in a heat when the Big 3 met. Holder was okay, but Kurtz crashed over him and although Kurtz went to the tapes for the rerun he soon withdrew.

Kurtz’s 11 point score got him in to the B Final but he did not start.

Deservedly the third qualifier direct to the A Final was local Josh Pickering who was beaten only by the eventual top duo and along the way broke Jason Crump’s five year old track record.

The B Final was an absolute thriller with Jaimon Lidsey (10) getting past Mildura clubmate Jordan Stewart (10) with Matthew Gilmore (8) encouragingly third.

Fricke was kept honest by Holder in the A final with Lidsey relegating Pickering to the back.

WA rider Blake Russell and Ben Cook were next best on competiveness and points, and local Joshua McDonald was better than his four points suggested.

Some debutants in the bottom half of the field were clearly outgunned, but they were giving away four years of experience to some already seasoned performers as the Under 21 showdown continues to be a good stepping stone to monitor the standings of the riders, most of who have come through from the Under 16 ranks.

The next wave of young speedway talent to embark on a senior career looks to be coming from Queensland and New South Wales, judging by the results of the Under 16 championships last weekend at the Kurri Kurri track.

The Australian (9 to) Under 16 125cc Championship as usual started with a qualifying meeting from which the top seven progressed to join nine seeded riders in the championship proper.

Significantly the seven qualifiers all missed out on getting in to the B or A Finals (top seven) so the seedings were spot on.

Queenslander Keynan Rew continued on from his domination of State Championship meetings with an unbeaten, and largely unchallenged, run to his first national title to improve on his runner-up placing last year.

Rew led home New South Wales rider Maurice Brown (10) in the A Final with another Queenslander Jacob Hook (11) awarded third after South Australian Jack Norman was excluded for cutting infield.

Norman (8) was in the final for the third consecutive year and had won the B Final from another South Australian Frazer Bowes (9), Queenslander Cordell Rogerson (10) and New South Wales rider Jack Miles (8) – those points scored from three races and he fell in his other three races.

Form from the individual title meeting was largely overturned in determining the outcome of the Australian (9 to) Under 16 125cc Team Championship.

Pleasingly most of the youngsters showed a good awareness of supporting their partners with the outcome again a good reward for those who did more things right.

New South Wales No. 1 team of Maurice Brown (14) and Jack Miles (10) came out on top of a combined WA / SA pairing of Brad Gordon (5) and Jack Sadler (17) with the favoured Queensland pairing of Keynan Rew (11) and Jacob Hook (8) third.

Sadler had previously finished as sixth qualifier on night one and then placed eighth in the championship proper, before his standout display in the Teams meeting.

The Australian (13 to) Under 16 250cc Championship featured alongside the Under 21 showdown on the Saturday night and produced a decisive victory by unbeaten Queenslander Jedd List.

It was a Queensland trifecta as List led home Keynan Rew (12) and Declan Kennedy (13) in the A Final with Victorian Tom Dixon (9) fourth after the latter had comfortably won the B Final from Isaac Hawes, NSW (12), Jack Norman, SA (10) and Jacob Hook, Qld (10).

There was a huge discrepancy of talent between the best and worst in this title meeting, but the class continues to prove a wonderful bridging class for the young talent.

By Peter Baker

Images Paul Galloway