Riders in all divisions will be chasing early points when the 2016 Kurri Kurri Speedway Club Championship gets underway this Saturday.
Following a short hiatus, club officials, volunteers and competitors will be back to business for the opening round of the club championship which this year is scheduled for six rounds of racing.
Kurri Kurri rider, Mason Campton won the coveted senior solo club championship last year but he will not be defending the title this year.
Campton is in Great Britain riding for the Workington Comets in the British Speedway Premier League.
The club title set Campton up for a strong Aussie season including the Queensland solo title.
Unfortunately, he suffered a fractured collarbone in his first race for Workington this season, but is hoping to recover soon.
With no defending champion competing, the way is open for a new club champion in 2016 and there seems certain to be a close battle for top honours.
Cessnock siblings Alan and Josh MacDonald finished third and fifth respectively in last year’s championship and on the back of their experience in competing at the ultimate level in the recent Australian Speedway Solo Championship, both are expected to be serious challengers this year.
Other riders to figure prominently in last year’s club championship were Central Coast’s Tyler King (4th) and Heddon Greta’s Josh Pickering (7th).
Mitchell Cluff (Lake Macquarie) and Isaac Hawes (Cessnock) finished one-two in the 2015 Junior 250cc Solo Club Championship. Both riders are expected to be hard to beat again this year.
The Kurri Kurri Speedway Club Championship provides opportunities in all speedway divisions including junior 125cc solos, senior sidecars as well as the junior 250cc solos and senior solo divisions.
The racing programs revert to the normal autumn/winter scheduling as daytime race meetings. The junior 125cc solo events stars at 11am with the remaining events to get underway about 1pm.
Meanwhile, Buttai’s Jye Etheridge had a losing start in his debut UK season with Edinburgh Monarchs.
The Monarchs, led by fellow Hunter rider Sam Masters, lost 56-37 to their oldest rivals the Glasgow Tigers in their opening League Cup qualifying group clash.
On a night when passing was extremely difficult, Etheridge was unable to match his more experienced rivals at the starting tapes.
Masters had no such problems and collected 17 points for the reigning Premier League champions.
