Wayne Baker

Oi. Ash would have a laugh though - this meeting has been rained out in England, and put off because of bushfire here in Oz previously. Lucky we don't have speedway tracks at the base of volcanoes!

Just how do we do it? tracks many hundreds of kilometers apart, no tracks near major cities, no real sponsorship except mums & dads. Went to a "club" meeting at Undera on Sat night - 440km round trip for me as a spectator - Mark Jones & other local riders going for it, no prizes, no money - one 14 yo boy on a 350 doing demo/practice laps by himself, having come from Tumut 850km return trip, to get some practice in on the 350 before the Aus titles at Tamworth next week - another 2400km return trip for the family. At the same meeting 12 or so youngsters on "Junior" solos, with 125 Honda 4stroke motors skidding around the junior track as young as 9yo, others on "peewees" as young as 4y0 - all at the same meeting at a bush track in "the middle of nowhere" - an absolutely fantastic night, maybe a future champion was there, who knows? But still, with speedway so hard to access as a sport in this big wide land of ours, just how do we keep turning out beaut young riders? mainly because some people just love it & that's that I think!

RESULTS Kev Doolan - First Jason Stewart - Second Richard Sweetman - Third Corey gathercole - Fourth Some of the standouts of the meet: Chris Ferguson, longtime mate of Ash, making the huge effort to "come out of retirement", all the way from Cairns to Broadford via Mildura to race at his mate's memorial; Jason Stewart "This is a meeting I wouldn't miss"; Seeing Richard Sweetman for the first time - very impressive; Of course seeing Kev Doolan ride & win his best mate's memorial, thanking the Jones Family for all the fun over the years, and "we all miss him"; The good size crowd that came from all over; The give-aways of Kings Lynn paraphernalia (my daughter won a cap); The fantastic programme and extra colour photos of Ash; The special trophy that all competitors received for taking part; The sidecars that spent so much time doing circle work on the infield (during the race); All in all, another great speedway meeting at a "bush" track on a hot summer day, but especially marked by the care and respect shown by all for the memory of a fine young bloke, and importantly for the Jones (& extended) family, all of who were at the meeting. The SSRAV can hold their head very high & proud after this one! Wayne Baker

It's not very simple - some young riders who do speedway also race Dirt Track - on modified MX bikes, on pretty long tracks (typically 600 - 800 metres), modified ovals, always having at least one right hand bend, some are "kidney shaped", some very large "L" shapes. So a lot of these kids (ie their parents) have several bikes, that they race at different tracks & meetings al around the countryside - for example, if a kid here ni Albury wants to race Junior speedway, they can race at Mildura 600km away, or Moe 500k, Adelaide 1000k, Gosford 650k - as well as Dirt track at home in Albury, Broadford 250k, Wagga 140k, West Wyalong 300k, Temora 250k, Canberra 400k, Griffith 275k, Mildura 600k, Cowra 500k, Newcastle 720k - get the picture? and surprisingly, not many kids do both, more do Dirt Track in the southern part of the nation than speedway. The huge dedication, effort & expense by families & the very rare sponsor actually has the effect of making our kids very appreciative, dogged, versatile and determined to do well - not only for themselves, but as a show of return for their families and supporters efforts. I disagree that the Junior scene is well structured - rather, there are hotbeds of dedicated, harworking zealots who love their kids and the sport, and this produces a stream of young blokes who are regularly punching above their weight on the world scene!