Doyle wins in Wodonga but Fricke ends in points

Australia Alone Speed ​​Racing Championship 2023

Round two – Albury Wodonga

Albury Wodonga Motor Club hosted the second round of the 2023 Australian Speed ​​Championships overnight at the Diamond Park Speedway site roughly straddling the NSW and Victoria border near the watery banks of the Murray River.

Murray’s content and surrounding areas saw the site submerged one meter deep in floodwater until just a few weeks ago.

The second round originally scheduled at Mildura has been canceled due to the current location of Olympic Park being an island! Between the Albury Wodonga and Mildura sites, the Murray River meanders for another 1238 km and picks up many tributaries along the way, including the main junction with Darling, leaving Mildura Motor Club with no choice but to cancel their race. championship.

Things weren’t going well for the Albury Wodonga Motor Club either, whose involvement in the series was also in great doubt until just weeks before the sprint and a massive cleanup effort. was made to hold their first round. championship after a three-year break interrupted by COVID.

While the track itself and the spectator mounds are ready, the club kitchen and some other facilities are still waiting for permission from the health authorities to clean up, so the organizers are forced to have to use mobile catering and basically just ‘get it done’ and get on with it.

South Australia hosted the opening round of the 2023 Australian Highway Senior Singles Championship at Gillman on Tuesday night.

2017 world champion Jason Doyle and current world teams champion Jack Jack both picked up 17 points in a thrilling opening encounter for several of the 2023 domestic season.

Former U21 World Champion and three-time Australian champion Max Fricke finished third in the final in South Australia but scored just 11 points for the round after struggling in the opening matches, those problems have caused he fell behind certified longtime international star Justin Sedgmen, who took 13 points against Gillman to advance to this Albury-Wodonga 4th round in terms of points.

However, better of the two in terms of points in South Australia is 2018 Australian Champion Rohan Tungate. The 32-year-old finished ahead of five-time Australian Champion and 2012 World Speedway champion Chris Holder, who, like Fricke, left South Australia with a total of 11 points and reached the third round. These two are in third place on the scoreboard.

Former under-21 world champion Jaimon Lidsey didn’t even make it to the first round after breaking his wrist last month and was replaced in the first round by Brayden McGuinness, who withdrew from this round to be replaced by Brayden McGuinness. Justin Sedgmen.

Ben Cook scored eight points in South Australia but his place on the ice for this round was taken by Cooper Riordan.

Motor Racing Australia’s new highway-specific air barrier was first deployed at the Albury-Wodonga circuit and will be used for the remainder of the championship. This is the same specification as used in the Speedway GP.

Why color? Well, it turns out that this air fence order was originally placed by Ukraine, but the Ukrainians are now busy with more pressing matters…

Likewise, 2017 champion Sam Masters took eight points against Gillman before falling hard and injuring his shoulder. The injury was severe enough to force him out of the series, his replacement for this round was Patrick Hamilton.

Diamond Park delivered a bright and sunny afternoon for the second round, and while Max Fricke starred in his passionate races, winning all but one, Jason Doyle stole the thunder. his lightning in the final to finish at the top of the podium and win the round, despite scoring 16 points overall for the round compared to Fricke’s 17.

Josh Pickering took 14 points and took the final step to the podium ahead of Brady Kurtz. The latter of that pairing had some great heat racing and was battling pain from a broken rib to get 13 points for the round ahead of Jack Holder in 12th place.

Rohan Tungate and Chris Holder both scored 10 points and finished sixth and seventh in the round ahead of Justin Sedgmen and Zach Cook while James Pearson made the top 10 on the night.

At the halfway point of the four-round series, Jason Doyle leads the championship with 33 points to Jack Holder’s 29 and Max Fricke’s 28.

It is still quite open with two rounds remaining with Rohan Tungate with 24 points and Justin Sedgmen with 22 points while Brady Kurtz and Chris Holder each have 21 points. Josh Pickering is currently eighth on the championship standings with 20 points.

It was a very successful night with Diamond Park always operating at full capacity. A great reward for all the hard work of the club members to prepare for the competition after the entire venue was submerged under a meter of floodwater just weeks before.

Australia’s best racers are currently heading north for lap three at Kurri Kurri, which is Tungate’s home ground. Kurri Kurri hosted the third round on Monday, January 9, before the finale was held in North Brisbane just two days later, on January 11.

Second round of the Australian Alone Speed ​​Championship 2023 Score

2023 Championship Points Speedway Alone Australia