Australia’s country music capital will be treated to high octane music of another kind next weekend when Tamworth is invaded by the thumping four-stroke thunder of Australian Supermoto.

Things are definitely looking up for Australia’s most exciting new sport after a healthy turnout aided by good weather at the recent Coffs harbour round of the Australian Championship.

Tamworth plays host to the penultimate round of this year’s six round series just as the action at the top of the points tables really starts to hot up.

Mark Avard (Husaberg) returned from competing in America to cement his lead at the top of the big-bore S1 category at Coffs. But not everything went his way as the 34 year old had a few mechanical dramas in the final race which cost him some points. However he still has a reasonable 35 point lead over Stuart Bennett (KTM), but a single mistake by Avard could be all that is needed for the enduro specialist to close that gap to nothing.

Adding another exciting ingredient to the S1 mix at Tamworth will be wildcard entrant Alex Gobert. The young Sydneysider returns from competing for the factory backed Erion Honda squad in the American Supersport Championship where he is currently equal fourth in the highest grade of American road racing. Alex will be on the smallest bike in the S1 field with a CRF450R his chosen mount. A big-bore kit has lifted the machine to 480cc to try and put him on a slightly more equal footing with the S1 pilots whose machines are as large as 700cc.

While Avard has been dominating the big-bore S1 class of Supermoto competition ex 500cc Grand Prix competitor Mark Willis (Honda) has been doing likewise in the S2 category. This class is hotly contested by a talented field of players on machinery limited to only 450cc in capacity. Willis made a clean sweep at Coffs but still could not completely regain the point advantage he enjoyed before the Queensland round of the championship, where mechanical failures cost him many points. Victoria’s Adam Altham (Yamaha) is always there to take any advantage offered by Willis and a great run of consistency means Altham still leads Willis by 13 points as they head to the penultimate round.

A growing force in the hotly contested S2 class has been Team Suzuki’s star motocross rider, Danny Ham. The Sydney rider challenged Altham at Coffs and is coming to terms with the hybrid tar/dirt nature of Supermoto competition.

The Tamworth venue is the Oakburn Park Motorsports complex. Set on 100 acres the facility offers all amenities including offices, first aid room, toilets and showering facilities and a fully stocked canteen. Oakburn Park is located on the Gunnedah Road, approximately 2km past the Tamworth Airport.

Preparations of the track are well advanced with a 760m tarmac section joining with a 200m dirt section complete with a series of three jumps.

The final round for 2003 is tentatively scheduled for Tasmania on November 23.

This Sunday’s action packed programme of racing kicks off with practice at 9am, and competition from 10am.

Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for children or a family pass (2+2) sells for $50.