The Husqvarna men made their presence felt in no uncertain terms at the weekend‰Ûªs star-studded Gear Factor North Brisbane Cup, at Northgate in Brisbane.
Speedway ace Jake Allen was in blinding form as he rode a Husqvarna FC 450 to third place in the event‰Ûªs 20 lap final, which was won by Troy Herfoss from Jace Castles, while veteran former motocross pro Nathan Crawford slid his Husqvarna into fifth.
Allen and fellow speedway ace Josh Grajczonek both won heat races as they each fought against the 40-rider field for a berth in the 16-rider final grid.
Both qualified through to the main event, however Grajczonek went down in the first turn necessitating a restart of the final, and was excluded.
Allen made good his restart though, emerging from Turn one in fifth place and quickly working his way through to third, where he would finish after clocking the second fastest best lap of the final.
‰ÛÏIt was a pretty good night." Allen admited. "I actually went better in my earlier races but I did pretty well considering I don't do to dirt track any more, and I still beat probably another ten or so guys that do it on a regular basis. I would rather have won of course, but it was something a bit different, and I enjoyed every second of it to be honest, even in getting beaten it was just good to get back into dirt track.
"It's pretty heavy in the final, the nerves are kicking in and the intensity is very high. You‰Ûªve gotta be riding at ten-tenths the whole way and there is lots of bar banging. In the first five laps of that 20 lapper everyone was trying to pick a couple of people off while the field is bunched up.
"I was probably fifth off the start and went around two or three people on the first corner, but I wasn‰Ûªt fit enough to hang with the front guys, so I just concentrated on bringing home for the podium .‰Û
