Forget F1, the Olympics, whatever the soccer cup is called and the grand finals — in October Melbourne gets to host the biggest event in the speedway universe.
Yes, lots of young men in tight leather gear and coloured helmets will be turning left for four dirt-filled laps under the lights when the World Speedway Grand Prix comes back to Australia on October 24 for the first time in 13 years. Born in the NSW Hunter Valley, speedway bikes have no gears, no brakes (hmm, sounds like my Falcon ute), are methanol-powered and can manage 160km/h. Despite its Aussie heritage, the sport is small here but huge in the northern hemisphere, where in places such as Poland the 15 GP riders are bigger than the Rolling Stones. Three Australians, the Hunter’s Jason Doyle, Chris Holder and Troy Batchelor, are among them.
Best of all for those of us with the attention spans of gnats, the four laps take less than a minute.
While Australians do well — Phil Crump was third in the world in the 1970s and his son Jason was a three-time world champion — the previous world event here struggled.
Nineteen-year-old Canberra lad Jimmy Dimmock hopes to change that. Bike racing since he was four, Jimmy was one of Australia’s top five dirt bike racers before he made the switch to speedway two years ago.
“During that time in dirt bikes some of my best results have been top five in Australian junior championships, top five in NSW junior championships and winning the ACT Championship three years in a row on the 250cc. At the age of nine I competed in junior speedway till I was 14,” Jimmy says. “This is a physically demanding sport. The only controls you have on the bike are the throttle and your body weight.”
Jimmy rang me this week for a bit of advice on his career. His dad, Peter, owner of Canberra Creative Trailers (mention The Weekend Australian Motoring for your discount), has been his pit crew, team bus driver and main sponsor. Given the nearest track is five hours away in Kurri Kurri (so good they named it twice), Pete has been pretty committed to his son’s career.
Jimmy is committed too, working in the business during the day, working on his bikes in the shed out the back at night and racing two to three times a month.
“I’ve never been overseas but I want to race professionally in the UK. Jason Crump is coaching me.” Crumpy thinks Jimmy is getting there but still has a way to go.
Still, it seems to me Jimmy is the goods.
Read about the RM auction of one of the three 1953 Jaguar C-type works lightweights and an update to my coverage of Elvis Boustani’s Audi saga at the Australian
