The thieves escaped with more than $10,000 worth of equipment and left the club with a considerable damage bill as well with fences broken in several spots and vehicles damaged as they were stripped of copper fittings.

Instead of moving into planning mode for the 40^th anniversary celebrations, the club’s new committee is now facing a mammoth task to just getting back to square one to start the season.

“It’s incredibly disappointing,  the new committee was looking foward to building on the excellent work of our outgoing committee and making this a great year of celebrations in our 40^th year,” club media spokesperson Charmaine Lodge said.

“It’s not a great start but we are not going to let them beat us. We’ll just have to re-double our efforts as it’s all about the kids and ensuring the club’s survival.”

The Kurri Kurri Junior Motorcycle Club has produced many of Australia’s leading riders including world champions Chad Reed and Casey Stoner, MotoGP and Superbike rider Broc Parkes as well as current speedway stars Rohan Tungate, Josh Pickering and Mason Campton.

The latest crop of young stars is struggling to understand why anyone would be lousy enough to steal from them and then cause so much damage to the club’s vehicles and facilities.

“It really gets to you as everyone knows that the club is about fostering opportunities for the kids. We are a huge part of the Kurri Kurri and Hunter community,” Lodge said.

“It’s stealing from us, the kids and the whole community.”

The first break-in was discovered on December 16 and a subsequent raid and damage to fences is believed to have happened between Boxing Day and January 29.

“They’ve obviously got four-wheel-drives as the area they broke the fences to go into is not accessible by a normal vehicle,” Lodge said.

“The first break-in was part of a raid which included vehicles and equipment at Hydro. They’ve come back again and their wasn’t much left to take so they stripped all the copper they could.”

The club is hopeful but not confident of the return of the stolen equipment but buoyed by the response from businesses with Singleton Outdoor donating three blowers to replace those stolen.

“We were so thrilled with their generosity and know we will need help from the Kurri Kurri and wider Hunter community to replace what we’ve lost,” Lodge said.

Lodge said while it was a set-back the club was not going to let it affect their celebrations and work with the next generation of young riders.

“We have a come a try day on February 10 and we would love everyone to come out and support us. It’s a great opportunity for kids from as young as four and five to try out the sport,” she said.

Anyone interested in helping or joining the club can call Lodge on 0427 842 846