The Hunter Motor Cycle Club will host its second title meeting for 2023 when the Australian Senior Track Championship is staged this coming weekend, August 12 and 13, at their Barleigh Ranch Raceway.
After the highly successful Australian Junior Track Championship last month officials are confident the track will be again in pristine condition to allow the huge entry list of riders to battle it out for honours.
Riders are coming from Queensland, Victoria and South Australia as well as across New South Wales and the quality of the entries should ensure close competition across the six championship classes.
So large is the entry list that five heats will be required in each of the four rounds for both the MX Open and Pro 450 classes and every place in every race will be important.
Only the top ten qualify direct to the Final, while the next 12 on points have to battle for the last two Final berths in what is always a cut-throat Repechage race.
Finding a favourite is no easy task, but Queensland teenager Cyshan Weale deserves that tag after his brilliant showing in the New South Wales Championship at Coffs Harbour last month.
Locally based youngsters Luke Bush and Cody Lewis and Central Coast brothers Harry and Connor Ryan are other prominent contenders among the younger brigade.
While certainly not in the veteran class, seasoned campaigners like Daniel Wicks from Cowra, Jordan Dall from Gunnedah, Grant Charnock from Penrith and Bailey Spencer from Coffs Harbour will all fancy their chances of battling it out in the Final.
The Pro 250 class along with the Up to 1100cc Dirt Track Sidecars and the ATV Open class will all have two heats per round before the Repechage and Final.
Cody Lewis is one of the two competitors who will be trying to repeat their 2022 title win when he contests the Pro 250 class.
Perhaps one of the hottest favourites for the weekend will be Joshua Griffiths in the ATV Open class.
In the Dirt Track Sidecars there was little between Jarred Marko / Shaun Fuller and Corey Forde Darren Fraudenstein in the New South Wales showdown and a repeat of that would not be surprising.
The only championship class that be decided solely on points over five rounds will be the Pro Open Womens class where defending champion Tayla Street will again lock horns with Brisbane rider Briony Hendrickson who is the most successful womens rider over the past decade.
As well as the championship classes there will be a number of support classes including the always competitive Over 35s and a class for ATV 450cc machines.
Last but not least there will be three junior classes, featuring a number of successful performers from last month’s Australian Junior Track Championship meeting.
Practice starts at 9am on Saturday while Sunday kicks off with the Parade Lap and National Anthem at 9.30am.
The Barleigh Ranch Raceway is situated just off the Pacific Highway north of Raymond Terrace and there is no charge for fans on Saturday while a car load of fans will pay $20 to see the deciding events on Sunday.
