Mick Kirkness has raced his way to the inaugural Aussie Flat Track Nationals overall win, with a masterful display of patience and experience.
Kirkness proved too strong for a hard-charging field of riders in the form of Flat Track SuperPole winner Tom Drane, Jarred Brook, and TT SuperPole winner, Daniel Wicks.
It was an impressive start to the weekend from Tom Drane with round one on Appin’s flat track circuit, showing fans and competitors alike the sheer speed that has given him success overseas recently.
Topping the timesheets every session and taking Superpole in spectacular fashion as the last rider to hit the circuit, Drane (1-6-1-4-1) went on to take three from five race wins through the schedule but it wasn’t enough as Kirkness went 2-1-2-2-2 for the round win with Jarred Brook (3-3-4-1-3) in third on a changing and challenging surface.
Sunday was a fresh start for AFTN competitors as round two moved to Appin’s TT circuit where Daniel Wicks quickly established himself as a contender, heading out first in SuperPole, and keeping the number one position as each of the next five fastest riders tried, and failed, to beat his lap time.
It wasn’t to be Wicks’ (2-1-3-3-2) day though as the consistency from Kirkness (1-2-1-1-1) continued to shine through to relegate the KTM rider second overall ahead of Jarred Brook (3-5-4-4-3) once again in third, followed by Cyshan Weale (4-3-5-5-6) and Marty McNamara (7-8-7-8-4). A visually sore Tom Drane (8-6-2-2-DNF) after an on-track incident early in the day, managed to salvage two seconds, before a DNF in the final race of the day sealed 6th overall for round two.
“I knew the regular front runners would be a handful on the short track Saturday while there was plenty of grip, but also hoped that my experience in staying smooth and calm on a grooved track would come in to play,” Kirkness explained. “With the hot, windy day we had it took rubber a little quicker then expected and it all started to come together. Everyone had a bad race at some point over the weekend with a crash or a bad start or whatever the issue may have been, except me, I knew keeping my nose clean and being consistent was going to play a big part. 2nd was our worst finish all weekend. Sometimes things just go in your favour and this weekend for sure went the way of the Kirkness family, even my young fella won the raffle today!”
AFTN promoter, Dave Maddock, said “Congratulations to not only Mick on his win this weekend, but also Jhett Calderwood, Sam Drane, as well as Dane & Jason Griffin for winning their classes this weekend too. I’d also like to thank Greg and the Macarthur Motorcycle Club for being so incredibly supportive to allow this event to get off the ground, the flag marshalls and officials for giving up their time for the event and of course a huge thank you for all the competitors for entering and racing. The racing was action-packed and although for sure there were some mistakes, teething issues, and lessons learnt, I’m really proud of the product we produced on such a short timeline and I can’t wait to share all the elements with everyone of the coming weeks as we continue to celebrate the very first AFTN.”
Pro 450 Top 5 Overall
1 Michael KIRKNESS
2 Daniel WICKS
3 Jarred BROOK
4 Tom DRANE
5 Cyshan WEALE
Round 1 – Pro 450 Saturday – Flat Track Layout
Race Winners
Race 1 Tom Drane
Race 2 Mick Kirkness
Race 3 Tom Drane
Race 4 Jarred Brook
Race 5 Tom Drane
Round 2 – Pro 450 Sunday – TT Layout
Race Winners
Race 1 Mick Kirkness
Race 2 Daniel Wicks
Race 3 Mick Kirkness
Race 4 Mick Kirkness
Race 5 Mick Kirkness
Junior Lites
1 Jhett CALDERWOOD
2 Lachlan RUSSELL
3 Kristian O’DONNELL
Junior 85
1 Sam DRANE
2 Riley NAUTA
3 Jake PAIGE
Clubman
1 Jason GRIFFIN
2 Bradley PAGE
3 Christopher JARVIS
Clubman 250
1 Dane GRIFFIN
2 Zachary HOFER
3 Lee HUNTER
