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Dirt track racing |
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Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on clay or dirt surfaced oval tracks in Australia. The seasons tend to be from September to April. [1] There are a large number of tracks available Australia wide, with some of the most popular ones being Perth Motorplex, Bunbury Speedway, Speedway City, Premier Speedway Warrnambool (Sungold Stadium) and Sydney Speedway (trading as Valvoline Raceway). The richest and best known Speedway series in Australia is the World Series Sprintcars. The series was conceived by Adelaide based sedan driver and promoter John Hughes in 1986 as an Australian version of the famous World of Outlaws (WoO) series run in the United States since 1978. The most recent season was the 2014–15 World Series Sprintcars season.
There is also a single meeting Australian Sprintcar Championship which is run over 12 rounds during the Australian Speedway season (as of 2013–14). The Australian Sprintcar Championship has been contested every year since 1963. Only open to Australian Sprint Car drivers, the Championship is for winged 410ci cars. It is contested at a different track each season, on a state-by-state rotational basis. The 2015 Championship was held at Western Australia's Bunbury Speedway. The 2016 title will be held at Victoria's Premier Speedway. [2] The most successful driver of the Championship's history is Garry Rush with 10 wins. Another popular annual event is the Australian Super Sedan Championship.
The composition of the dirt on tracks has an effect on the amount of grip available. Tracks can be composed of any of the following materials; clay, dirt, sand, Dolomite, crushed granite and crusher dust. Some tracks are also banked or semi-banked, although most are flat. The Ultimate Sprintcar Championship (USC) recently announced a new television show which will be broadcast on 7mate, which is the most comprehensive free-to-air deal in the history of a few premier Sprintcar venues. It will run from early November 2015 until the end of April 2016. The new program will be known as "Ultimate Sprintcar". [3]
Despite Australia being the birthplace of motorcycle speedway in 1923, and producing two World Champions since 2002 in Jason Crump (2004, 2006 and 2009) and Chris Holder (2012), as well as dual Under-21 World Champion Darcy Ward (2009, 2010), the Speedway Grand Prix of Australia has not returned to the Speedway Grand Prix calendar as of 2014.
This is set to change from 2015 with Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, a 53,359-seat stadium with a retractable roof and movable seating, signing a 5-year deal to host the event. [4] Eithad is mostly used by the Australian Football League so a temporary track (early estimates put it at approximately 350 metres (380 yards) long) will need to be installed for the 2015 event scheduled to be held on 24 October (after the end of the 2015 AFL season). The Grand Prix is set to be the 12th and final round of the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix series. Triple World Champion Jason Crump and ten time Australian Champion Leigh Adams will serve as Australian SGP ambassadors in 2015. The Australia national speedway team are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The current team is managed by former rider Mark Lemon, (who also managers the Australia national under-21 speedway team) and captained by 2012 World Champion Chris Holder. Australia finished 3rd in the 2014 Speedway World Cup Final on 2 August in Poland.
Of the 15 permanent riders of the SGP, three of them are Australian;
Some of the more notable and popular dirt track races include:
There are several types of classes in Australian speedway including: [5] [ inappropriate external link? ]
Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand.
Avalon Raceway is a dirt track racing venue located in Lara, Victoria, Australia. The track is based on a clay sand mix, is oval shaped and is 390 metres in length.
Liverpool Speedway was located in Green Valley, Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Liverpool was officially opened by Frank Oliveri and the Oliveri Family, alongside Ald. E. Smith, the mayor of Liverpool at the time, and ran until its sudden and unexpected closure in 1989. Frank Oliveri would later share track management with track announcer and promoter, Channel 7 television sports presenter Mike Raymond.
The Sydney Sports Ground No. 1 was a Stadium and dirt track racing venue in Sydney, New South Wales. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) currently sits. The ground had two main grandstands and was surrounded by a grass covered hill, giving it a capacity of more than 35,000. It was demolished along with the smaller No.2 Ground in 1986 to allow the building of the SFS, which opened in 1988. During its lifespan the sports ground hosted rugby league, rugby union, soccer, motorcycle speedway, and speedway car racing.
Michael Pickens is a racecar driver from Auckland, New Zealand. He races midgets and sprint cars in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. Michael is a 7 time New Zealand Midget Car champion and was the 2021 Sprintcar champion. He also won the 2015/2016 Australian Speedcar Championship.
Sydney Showground Speedway, originally known as the Speedway Royal and later the Speedway Royale but often referred to as just The Royale or The Showground, was a motorcycle speedway track, which was located at the old Sydney Showground and used from 1926 until 1996.
Tralee Speedway was a dirt track racing venue located in Jerrabomberra on the New South Wales side of the ACT/NSW border near Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The speedway was home to several drivers who went on to become Australian national and state champions. Tralee was a 410 metres dirt surfaced oval raceway.
Motorsport is a popular spectator sport in Australia, although there are relatively few competitors compared to other sports due to the high costs of competing. The oldest motorsport competition in Australia is the Alpine Rally which was first staged in 1921 followed by the Australian Grand Prix, first staged in 1928. The most widely watched motorsport category is Supercars, especially at the Bathurst 1000. Other classes in Australia include Australian GT, Formula 3 and Formula Ford, Superbikes, as well as various forms of speedway racing.
Perth Motorplex is a motorsport venue located at Kwinana Beach, Western Australia. It caters mainly for drag racing and speedway, although other events are held there regularly. Over 275,000 patrons attend the venue each year to many varied events. The Perth Motorplex holds rounds of the World Series Sprintcars championship.
Rowley Park Speedway is a former dirt track racing venue that was located on Torrens Road in Brompton, South Australia and supplanted the Kilburn speedway (1946–1951) on Churchill Road, and the earlier Camden motordrome (1935–1941) on the Bay Road. The speedway ran continually during Australia's speedway seasons from its opening meeting on 21 December 1949 until its last meeting on 6 April 1979.
The Adelaide Motorsport Park, known as Speedway Park from 1979 to 2001 and Speedway City from 1997 to 2016, is a dirt track racing venue located 26 km north of Adelaide in Virginia, South Australia, adjacent to the Adelaide International Raceway.
The Murray Machining & Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway is a Dirt track racing venue that is located in the town of Murray Bridge, South Australia, only 66 km from Adelaide. Racing at the speedway generally takes place between September and April meetings held on Saturday nights. Racing has been held at the venue continuously since opening in 1958.
The Australian Sprintcar Championship is a dirt track racing championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion for winged sprint car racing. The single championship meeting runs in either late January or early February and has been held each year since the Windsor RSL Speedway in Sydney hosted the first championship in 1963. After the first nine championship meetings were held in New South Wales, the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia (SCCA) now holds the meeting in a different state on a rotational basis, with 1972 seeing the first championship held outside of NSW at the Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria. The Australian Sprintcar Title is only open to Australian drivers and is run and sanctioned by the SCCA.
World Series Sprintcars was a dirt track racing series held in Australia for Sprintcars. It was the richest and best known Speedway series in Australia. The series was last run in 2019/20 summer season. The COVID-19 pandemic was the originally cited reason for the series cancellation. Multiple attempts to restart the series have failed. The series has been replaced by multiple Sprintcar State Series.
Newcastle Motordrome was a dirt track racing venue located on the Old Punt Road in Tomago, New South Wales, just north of the Hunter River and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of the city of Newcastle. The ¼-mile speedway operated from its opening in 1977 until it was sold in 2002. The site of the Motordrome is now warehouses and light industrial factories.
The Claremont Speedway was a racing circuit in the grounds of the Claremont Showground in the suburb of Claremont in Western Australia's capital city of Perth. The speedway held its first meeting on 14 May 1927, and its final meeting on 31 March 2000.
The Bunbury Speedway is a motorsport venue located in Bunbury, Western Australia. It features a 530 metres dirt oval track.
Borderline Speedway, is a dirt track racing venue in the Australian state of South Australia located in the locality of Glenburnie, South Australia about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) east of the city of Mount Gambier. Racing at the speedway generally takes place between November and May.
Sydney International Speedway, known as Sydney II as its successor to the original circuit, is a dirt track racing venue held near the shutdown area of Sydney Dragway in Eastern Creek. Like the original, it is about 500m in length.
Lismore Speedway is a dirt track racing venue located at Lismore Showground Lismore, New South Wales. It hosts a variety of motor sports and other events throughout the year.