More than 150 riders with more than 250 bikes will descend on the Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club Inc. complex, Allen Park MVRG, at Debenham Road North, Somersby next weekend (October 8, 9 and 10) for the 2010 Honda / MX Rad Australian Junior Track Championship meeting.
The championship showdown is not simply an opportunity to look at some of the next wave of motor cycle talent heading towards senior careers.
Many of the riders contesting the championship, up to those in the Under 16 years of age classes, have up to a decade of motorcycle racing experience behind them and when the carrot of a national championship is dangled in front of the riders they invariably turn on close, exciting racing that is as good as any senior competition.
Next weekend‰Ûªs meeting will bring together riders from as far a field as the Whitsunday region in Queensland, the strangely named Mud n Tars Club in South Australia, the North-West Club in Victoria, and many places in between.
The largest contingents of riders are coming from the North Brisbane Club, the Mike Hatcher Club based on the Gold Coast, plus New south Wales clubs at Kurri Kurri, Cowra and of course the host club.
The Central Coast Junior Motorcycle Club continue to be at the forefront of junior action, in particular, in Australia and this will be the fifth national title showdown that the club has hosted in six years.
There will be a total of 13 championship classes decided over the weekend, including two classes for the girls.
Riders in this class of racing get two chances to compete in national championship meetings each year ‰ÛÒ one on dirt track (oval track with one right-handed corner) and this track title, which is contested on a traditional oval track, the one at Somersby measuring around 500 metres to the lap.
With the Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship having been staged at the Kurri Kurri Club complex in July there will be eight riders at Somersby attempting to win the track championship for the same class of bike that they won at the Dirt Track title meeting.
Dual victories are even harder to come by but North Brisbane youngster
Zaine Kennedy and Kurri Kurri rider
Josh Pickering are among those eight and both in fact will be out to repeat victories in two classes from the dirt track title.
And at last year‰Ûªs track championship
Josh McDonald from Kurri Kurri and
Robbie Menzies-Sargant from the Gold Coast both scored doubles, but McDonald in particular will face a tougher challenge this year as he has stepped up into the 13 to Under 16 years age bracket.
Earlier this year Cowra rider
Brady Kurtz won the Australian Under 16 Speedway Championship, but he did not contest the dirt track championship as he was overseas to compete in the FIM Speedway Youth Gold Trophy in Denmark. He will be particularly keen to add to his collection of honours.
There is certainly plenty of great talent in the junior dirt track ranks at present, with many of them never having won a national championship before.
Among the entries for the championship are
Remy and Luca Gardner, sons of former World 500cc champion
Wayne Gardner. Both boys are making great progress in the sport, with racing on the dirt viewed as an excellent training ground before heading to road racing.
That is something that
Remy Gardner will be doing later in October when he heads to Portugal to contest the Honda NSF100 European Cup at the Albacete track.
But before then, an Australian Championship victory would be a nice boost.
For those championship classes where there is just one grid of riders, racing will be conducted over seven rounds with points scored from all rounds counting towards the outcome.
In the classes with larger entry lists there will be four rounds of heats with the top 12 scorers then proceeding to a three-round final, again scored cumulatively which ensures that every race is vital.
A parade of riders will open the championship at 9.15am on Saturday (October 9) while on Sunday racing kicks at 9.45am and carries on well into the afternoon.
Spectators are asked to pay a $10 entry fee per car payable for the weekend.
www.ccjuniormotorcycleclub.org.au 
