Six of Dubbo Dirt Bike Club's junior motocross riders competed at the Australian Junior Motocross Championships in Adelaide over the school holidays, with 15-year-old Blake Fox taking the crown as Australian champion.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The championships attract over 500 of the best junior motocross riders in Australia to compete over six days of racing and are considered to be the pinnacle of the sport for junior riders in Australia.
With over 5,000 licensed junior motocross riders in Australia, just managing to qualify for the championships is an amazing achievement. Racing in the 15 years 125cc class, Fox was too good for the competition, steering his KTM125 machine to a string of podium finishes in the finals and claiming the overall title as Australian champion.
READ ALSO:
He backed up the incredible performance with second place overall in the 15 Years 250cc championship.
The title caps off an amazing year for the talented young rider in which he also won the NSW championship, and represented Australia at the World Junior Motocross Championships for the second year in a row.
Reflecting on the championship win Fox acknowledged the help he has received from his family and supporters throughout the year. "I had a great week at the Aussie titles coming away with the 125cc 15 Years championship and getting second in the 250cc championship," Fox said. "I want to give a huge thanks to my family and everyone that made this possible and helped me along the way."
Also competing at the championships was 11-year-old Dubbo youngster Jack Deveson, who showed he's one to watch in the future with some great results in the 10-12 Years 65cc and 85cc classes.
Deveson picked up two second place and two fourth place finishes in the 65cc finals and was looking like he would finish the titles in third place, but an unfortunate crash in the finals dropped him down the leader board and relegated him to seventh overall in the championship.
The St Mary's School youngster rode consistently against the older riders on the larger 85cc bike to finish in ninth place overall in the championship.
With one more year competing in the 10-12 Years class, Deveson said he was looking forward to racing in the same classes at the Australian Championships when it is held again next year. "It was great to get a couple of second's on my 65cc bike in the finals and awesome to represent the NSW team," Deveson said.
"I'm looking forward to improving my results on the 65cc and 85cc at the Aussie titles in Queensland next year."
Older brother Brock Deveson finished the championships off strongly with a number of top 10 results in the 13-15 Years 125cc and 250cc classes, however some unfortunate results throughout the finals placed him in 13th overall in the 125cc class & 17th overall in the 250cc class.
Justin Harrow rode really well and had some great top 20 results throughout the championships, finishing in 23rd overall in the 13-15 Years 250cc title and 34th overall in the 13-15 Years 125cc championship.
Brothers Jonty & Kyan Hatton suffered unfortunate injuries in the qualifying races at the start of the championships and were unable to race in the finals, however both boys are fine now.
Dubbo Dirt Bike Club President Ben Woldhuis said his club was very happy for the riders, and that it was inspiring to see youngsters competing at such a high level.
"It's great to have six junior riders from the club racing at a national level competition like the Aussie Junior Titles," Woldhuis said. "We're really happy for the boys, and in particular Blake for claiming the title of Australian champion."
For anyone interested in helping out at the motocross club next year, there will be a presentation night and Annual General Meeting at 5pm on Friday November 1 at the Western Star Hotel in Dubbo.