UNDER 21

AUSTRALIAN SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIPS

What is Under 21?

The Australian Under-21 Speedway Championship is a motorcycle speedway championship held each year since 1986, with the exception of 1994 and 1995, to determine the Australian Under-21 national champion. The event is organised by Motorcycling Australia (MA). The event was run as the Australian Under-18 Championship in 1986. This lasted just one year and was changed to the Under-21 Championship in 1987 to bring it in line with the Individual Speedway Junior World Championship which is also for Under-21’s.

The inaugural Under-21 Championship in 1987 was held at the Undera Park Speedway in Victoria. Queensland riders scored a trifecta. The championship was won by Gary Allan from brothers Steve and Tony Langdon. It would take another 22 years (2009) before another Queenslander would step on the podium when Darcy Ward won the first of three straight titles. Victorian Nigel Tremelling won the single Under-18 Championship in 1986.

Leigh Adams from Mildura, Sydney’s Chris Holder and Victorian rider Max Fricke, jointly hold the record for most wins in the Australian Under-21 Championship with four wins each. Adams would win the 1992 Under-21 World Championship as well as winning a record 10 senior Australian Championships while in 1992 he became the first reigning Australian U/21 Champion to win the senior title. Holder won the 2012 World Championship. Triple Australian Under-21 Champion Darcy Ward won the Under-21 World Championship in 2009 and 2010 while finishing second in 2011 while Max Fricke won the Under-21 World Championship in 2016 after finishing 6th in the 2015 U/21 World Championship.

Leigh Adams, Darcy Ward and Max Fricke are the only Australian Under-21 Champions to have won the Under-21 World Championship.

No rider from Western Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory has won the championship, though 2003 and 2004 winner Rory Schlein from South Australia was born in Darwin (NT).

Max Fricke from Victoria is the current (2017) Australian Under-21 Champion. Frick won his record equaling 4th title at the Loxford Park Speedway in Kurri Kurri on 28 January.
– Wiki Commons