Cowra’s Ben Cook has taken out an Australian motorcyle racing title.
Ben was among 15 Cowra Motorcycle Racing Club riders who headed to Kurri Kurri on July 2, 3 and 4 to take part in the 2010 Australian Junior Dirt Track Championships.
Riders competing were brothers Jack and Joe Dawes, Ben and Zach Cook, Larz and Kye Burke, Toby and Kelsey Pollard, Izaak Ticehurst, Thomas and Patrick Duggan, Matthew Gilmore, Brayden Elliott, Jack Gilbert and Joe Bugg.
The racing started on Friday with the boy’s getting two rounds of practice on their machines before heading home to get ready for the start of racing on Saturday.
With four rounds of racing consisting of heats in most classes, the boys had to be among the highest point scorers to earn a spot in the all important finals three that would follow on Sunday.
From the start of racing all the Cowra competitors proved that there were there to do business.
The first class to hit the track was the 85cc 2 Stroke/150cc 4 Stroke 11-u13 years big wheel, with Ben, Jack and Thomas all lining up against 17 of the best. During the heats they all rode with the title in their sights and remained in the top four positions to progress to the deciding three finals.
Ben, Jack and Thomas all rode great but it was Benny Cook who took the honours in a fantastic third final to take the win on an exciting last lap and give him the no 1 spot on the podium. Well done BC.
The older 85cc Big wheel 13-u16years had only one Cowra rider in Kye Burke.
With this class only having 12 riders it was run over seven rounds and at the end of these seven rounds, it was the top point scorer who won the crown.
With some very fierce competition and consistent hard fought battles, Kye was very unlucky not to gain a place over all.
Great effort Kye.
Among the 25 riders in the 85cc 2 Stroke/ 150cc 4 Stroke 9-u11 years class were Cowra riders Joe Dawes, Zach Cook, Toby Pollard, Matt Gilmore and Patrick Duggan.
All tried their best.
The boys only met a few times during the heats which made it hard for all the boys to progress to the finals with such a heavy field of Australia’s best.
As the final points were announced, Zach was the only Cowra rider to make it through to the finals.
As he did in the 65cc finals Zach rode hard and was unlucky not to gain a placing.
A fantastic effort from all the boys.
The 85cc 2 stroke/150cc 4 Stroke 11-u 13 years Small Wheel class saw the trio of Ben, Jack and Thomas line up again and all three boys continued with some outstanding results in the heats and progressed through to the finals.
The action packed finals had some varied placings with all the boys trying their hardest.
Jack cruised home to win the first final with Ben and Thomas in 4th and 6th positions.
In the next two finals the boys didn’t get the starts they needed and with congestion on the first corner it made it difficult for the boys to get to the front of the pack.
Jack and Thomas fought hard but were unable to gain the important points to get them a placing.
With his guts and determination Ben got a clean break to take victory in the third final to finish up second overall.
The 80cc 4 Stroke 7-u 10 years was again hotly contested with Kelsey Pollard, Patrick Duggan and Matt Gilmore.
The boys had to score high to make the top 12 to contend the finals.
Amongst the older and more experienced riders Kelsey held his own but missed out on a spot in the finals. Look out in the future boys.
Patrick and Matt progressed to the finals.
After three great finals Patrick was unable to gain a placing but Matt, with some nail biting moves, managed to take out second place overall. Congratulations to all three boys.
The 80cc 4 Stroke 10-u14 years had brothers Jack and Joe Dawes among the field.
With only one full grid it was also run over seven rounds.
With mixed placings during the rounds Jack was unable to catch his Queensland rival Zaine Kennedy and took out second place overall.
Brother Joe didn’t join him on the podium.
After getting some brilliant starts he couldn’t quite back it up with such a talented group in front of him.
Great effort guys.
Cowra’s second youngest competitors were Jack Gilbert and Kelsey Pollard in the 65cc 7-u9 years and with a full field of 20 riders they needed to stay up the pointy end of the ladder to get through to the finals.
In true style, as the gates dropped, both boys stuck it to their rivals with some impressive results.
This being Kelsey’s first year on a 65cc he was just short of making the finals. As usual Jack rode his KX 60 with passion and secured himself a place in the finals.
With his sights set on an Aussie title, he cruised through the first final, but unfortunately in the second final he flipped his bike at the start and was unable to remount due to injury and the next two finals went on without him.
Well done boys.
The 65cc 9-u13 years was also a hotly contested class.
With 25 riders Zach Cook and Matt Gilmore were in their with the best.
The boys wasted no time in the heats.
Zach cruised through to the finals in fourth position and after some pretty impressive riding Matt was only a few points short of joining Zach in the finals.
Again Zach showed that he is one of the best and rode with style to take out second place overall.
A huge effort from both boys.
In the 100cc -150cc 2 Stroke 13- u16 years Cowra was represented by Tumut based rider Brayden Elliott.
Again with stiff competition he had to battle it out to gain his position in the finals.
Whilst Brayden rode perfectly all weekend he fell just short on points to take out a place in the championship.
The last class to hit the track was the premier 200 – 250cc 4 Stroke 13 – u 16 years.
The four boys battling it out for Cowra were Izaak Ticehurst, Joe Bugg, Larz Burke and Bathurst based Joe Bugg.
With 27 riders to compete against the Cowra riders had a hard task ahead of them.
With three heats in each round being one of the 12 finalists was going to be a huge effort.
Izaak was the unluckiest of the four Cowra riders to not make it through.
After pushing himself to the limit with his faultless riding he just missed out on lining up for the finals.
Larz, Joe and Brayden all kept up the pace in the finals with some precision riding from all three boys.
In the end it was Joe Bugg who kept the Cowra flag flying taking out second place overall in the championship.
Brayden missed out on third place by one point.
Larz also just missed out on a place.
What an outstanding effort boys.
Overall the Cowra Club had an outstanding field of riders representing the club for this prestigious event.
You boys should all be very proud of yourselves on a very successful meeting. The club would like to congratulate and thankyou for you efforts.
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