HORSEPOWER of a different kind revved up in Tamworth’s Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre (AELEC) yesterday, testing for a major state championship later in the year.
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Tamworth Motorcycle Club (TMCC) is hosting the NSW Solo Championships on December 11/12 – the only difference is they won’t be staged at Oakburn Park, the club’s traditional home, rather they will be held in the AELEC after around 30 junior and senior riders tested the new venue with a series of runs.
Instead of cutting horses, big bucking bulls and rodeo events centred on the equine sports, the TMCC is delighted to be able to host the NSW Solo Championships in the AELEC, president Paul Slade said.
He said the two-night spectacular would be a highlight in an arena that offers a different test for junior and senior riders around a smaller track.
Around 150 riders will contest the first night (Friday, December 11), with the top riders qualifying for the championships on the Saturday night (December 12).
“We’ll have junior and senior solo championships, 16 in each,” Slade said yesterday.
“We’ll be racing all the support races – peewees up to sidecars.
“We will also have a USA v Australia challenge on the Friday night.”
Yesterday’s “demonstration day” showed the track would be a safe and exciting venue with laps timed at around the 12-second mark.
“It’s going to be very different racing,” Slade said.
“Not a huge amount of speed but a lot of elbows, bumps and shoving.
“There wasn’t too much difference between the 250cc and 450cc bikes here.
“ We had one of the young guys on his 250 lapping quicker than a senior on his 450.”
James Hinton was one of the riders testing the new circuit yesterday.
The Central Coast rider was an Australian Longtrack champion (at the Tamworth Showground) two years ago and jumped at the chance to “shoot up to Tamworth and test out the AELEC”.
“This is great,” Hinton said.
“I jumped at the chance to come up here and ride in this venue. It’s built for bikes.”
He said he came up to see what the AELEC “felt like”.
“It’s exciting,” he said.
“I know Paul has had this in his mind for a long time.
“It’s going to be great for not only the riders but the spectators as well.
“It’s going to make for some good racing.
“It’s not like the longtrack, you won’t get the speeds of 100k, but it will be about throttle control and setting the bike up.”
