CATTERY TO HOST DIRT BIKE CHAMPS
Aussie supercross titles to transform Kardinia Park
The country’s best riders will zip around GMHBA Stadium when the Australian Supercross Championship rolls into Geelong later this year.
A NINE-year drought will end for revheads in October when they get to cheer on ‘the Geelong Cats of the motorsport nation’ as part of the Australian Supercross Championship.
GMHBA Stadium will host Round 3 of the 2018 championship, giving riders from Torquay-based CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Supercross team a rare chance to pop a wheelie at the expansive venue.
The team’s No. 1 rider and Australian motocross champion Dean Ferris, who raced at Kardinia Park’s last supercross event in 2009, will shift focus from his MX Nationals campaign to the five-round Supercross series in a bid to capture an as yet elusive title in the discipline.
The 26-year-old said as most were races held indoors, GMHBA Stadium would bring a unique challenge, allowing faster action and bigger jumps and putting a big emphasis on tuning and understanding the machine beneath him.
“It’s awesome for the team just being down the road. People like to get behind their home team and they will do at this event,” Ferris said.
“You can tell it’s going to be big, lots of seats, it’s going to be a big track and it could be the biggest we’ve had in years.”
CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Supercross team manager Craig Dack said it was exciting to give back to the region that has helped build their elite status in the sport.
“In the motorsport industry, we’re the highest profile team and the most winningest, successful motorcycle team in the history of the sport and we’re the region’s national motocross team, so there is a ‘home’ feeling about it for sure,” he said.
Dack said the event would be a vital reinvigoration for motocross in Geelong. The venue itself is steeped in twowheel history, particularly when speedway racing was booming in the 1920s and 1930s.
“It is quite a big dirt bike area and only 40km away you’ve got the Otway Ranges and a lot of trail rides go through there … and we have got a lot of motorcycle history in this town,” Dack said.
Troy Bayliss Events will bring the show to Geelong and the three-time World Superbikes champion was eager to see Ferris and US supercross star Justin Brayton race in front of a packed house and inspire the next generation of riders.
“To be able to come here at a big, outdoor, open stadium, we’ll be able to put on an incredible track … and for the motocross and supercross people to come here and know they will be really well looked after, it’s a massive bonus,” he said.
Kardinia Park Stadium Trust deputy CEO Natalie Valentine said it was an important event as the organisation pushed for more offseason uses for GMHBA Stadium.
A ‘ Pit Party’ will be held prior to the October 13 race day so fans can meet the riders before the on-track action
The transformation from footy field to supercross track will take just five days and the post-event rejuvenation will coincide with a planned returfing.