More than 120 riders from across Australia will contest the rescheduled 2026 MSC MOTO Australian Junior Track Championships at Allen Park, North Somersby, on 14–15 November
Riders from as far away as Townsville in the north and Melbourne in the south will descend on the Central Coast of New South Wales this weekend (14 and 15 November) for the rescheduled 2026 MSC MOTO Australian Junior Track Championships meeting, which was originally washed out in October.
Over 120 riders have entered to contest ten championship classes and three support classes.
There will be plenty of new names among this year’s champions, with some 2025 champions now having moved into the senior ranks, while three of last year’s winners will be back, chasing honours in an older age bracket or on a bigger machine.
The 13 to Under 16 two- and four-stroke classes are the feature events, and there will be a classy line-up of well-credentialled contenders.
The likes of Hugh Hope-Hodgetts and Hayden Duggan from Forbes, Nate Jaeger from Gunnedah, and Queenslanders Kai Moran and Ryke Haller are all expected to be prominent, as will host club rider Levi Meyn, who was an impressive winner of the Central Coast Junior Cup back in June.
Any fans thinking that junior racing would not be worth watching should remember that many of the competitors this weekend already have impressive records, and fans can be in awe of the skill and poise these young riders show on the track.
Even the younger age brackets, starting with the 7 to Under 9s riding on smaller-capacity machines, are just as watchable as the older juniors.
Significantly, over the past 25 years, junior title meetings have seen world champions like Casey Stoner, Remy Gardner, Darcy Ward and Chris Holder; current performers on the world road racing stage like Jack Miller, Senna Agius and Joel Kelso; and speedway stars like Brady Kurtz, Rohan Tungate and Sam Masters in action.
More recently, Australian Superbike frontrunner Cameron Dunker, recently crowned inaugural FIM Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup champion Archie McDonald, and dual American Flat Track champion Tom Drane have done their ‘apprenticeship’ coming through the dirt track ranks.
Specifically, it is 20 years since the Central Coast Junior Motor Cycle Club conducted the 2006 Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships, one of its numerous hostings of a title meeting over many years.
In case you need proof that these title meetings are a breeding ground for future senior stars, then check out those 2006 results.
So the action this weekend may well feature riders who go on to carve out significant careers not only on the national stage but even on the world stage over the next decade or so.
The classes with bigger entry lists will be decided over four rounds of heats (either two or three heats per round), then a repechage and a final, while smaller-entry classes will be decided on points over five rounds.
Action gets under way on Saturday morning with practice at 9 am, followed by the start of racing, while on Sunday there will be a Parade Lap and the National Anthem at 9.30 am, followed by a resumption of on-track action.
The Central Coast Junior Motor Cycle Club track is at Allen Park, Debenham Road, North Somersby, near Gosford, with the entry fee for spectators this weekend just $10 per vehicle.
