JACK HOLDER SET FOR AUSSIE TITLE DEFENCE IN JANUARY

Speedway GP star Jack Holder will defend his Australian Championship after the line-up for January’s five-round series was confirmed.

The world No.4 won his first Australian Championship last January when he snatched the trophy from under Jason Doyle’s nose, despite the 2017 Speedway GP world champion topping the podium in the opening three rounds of four.

Doyle sits out the 2024 series, but Holder faces stiff competition from his older brother, 2012 Speedway GP world champion Chris, who is chasing his sixth national title, with Speedway GP first reserve Max Fricke among the frontrunners as he goes for No.4.

The series gets underway at the Darcy Ward-promoted North Brisbane track on January 4, before the action moves to Kurri Kurri in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley region on January 7.

Albury-Wodonga on the NSW-Victorian border hosts round three on January 9, with Victoria’s famous Olympic Park in Mildura staging the penultimate meeting on January 11. The champion will be crowned at iconic Adelaide venue Gillman in South Australia on January 13.

As well as the national title, places in the Speedway GP qualification rounds will be up for grabs for the top four riders in the Aussie series, with the highest-placed Australian rider at the 2024 FIM Oceania Speedway Championship at Gillman on January 27 also earning an SGP qualification shot.

Former Aussie champions Rohan Tungate, Brady Kurtz and Sam Masters are in the national championship, along with 2020 FIM Speedway Under-21 world champion Jaimon Lidsey.

Last year’s Australian Under-21 champion Keynan Rew, who finished fourth in the SGP2 series this year, could emerge as a medal contender, with Josh Pickering, Ryan Douglas and brothers Ben and Zach Cook also keen to make an impact.

New Australian Under-21 champion Michael West takes his place in the series, along with Fraser Bowes and James Pearson, who have featured for Australia in the SON2 events. The line-up for each round will be completed by a wild card.  

The Australian Championship and the FIM Oceania event are part of a packed summer season for fans Down Under, as the nation celebrates 100 years since the very first speedway meeting at Maitland Showgrounds in the Hunter Valley on December 15, 1923.

Maitland Showgrounds will welcome a host of legends for a special event this Friday to mark that anniversary, including an unprecedented collection of historic speedway motorcycles, sidecars, cars and associated memorabilia.

There will also be demonstration laps of the Maitland track by historic machines, ridden by host of speedway legends, and a showcase of period costumes. All exhibitors and visitors are invited to dress up in 1920s gear with prizes awarded to the most authentic riders, mechanics and spectators.

There will then be an on-track celebration of speedway’s 100th birthday at nearby Kurri Kurri this Saturday, headlined by triple world champion Tai Woffinden and Chris Holder, plus Masters, Kurtz, Pickering, Douglas and Jye Etheridge.

Just days before North Brisbane launches the Australian Championship, the Queensland venue stages its star-studded, two-day Australian Speedway Centenary event on December 28 and 29.

The nation’s top sidecar speedway stars will battle it out on December 28, before former Speedway GP world champions Woffinden, Chris Holder and Doyle race in the solo event on December 29, which also features SGP icon Dan Bewley, GB star Adam Ellis, Fricke, Tungate, Masters, Kurtz, Lidsey, Rew and Douglas.