MRRDA MA National Junior Championships – Winton – Round Two
— Stars of the Future meet a Star of the Past
Australia’s future Road racing champions went on show at Winton over the Anzac Day weekend and what a show it was! Not only did the riders have Australian Championships and MRRDA Series to ride for but they also had the added motivation of riding in front of one of Australia’s greatest road racers in former World Supersport Champion and WSBK/MotoGP star, Chris Vermeulen.
In what can only be described a text book example of what giving back to your grass roots really means, Chris was attending to assist Paul Edwards with teaching our stars of the future what road racing is all about.
When asked why he was helping the MRRDA Chris explained, “After being overseas for so long I realised that in Australia we are so far behind the rest of the world in allowing our kids to road race. This puts us a step behind the Spanish and the Italians especially but even the English and the Germans and everyone else that allows kids to race at a young age. What Woody and the rest of the team have done here to put the MRRDA series together is great so from my point of view I just feel lucky that I can come along and give them some advice. I can see that with these kids they appreciate what I can tell them and even just over this weekend you can see them improve. I am going to stay involved. I will get to as many events as I can this year, and that will be most of them, and would also like to come back next year”.
Paul Edwards was delighted with Chris helping out saying “How many people in his position would come and do this at their own cost for no other reward than the pleasure of helping out the kids? He is an amazing guy and everyone in the MRRDA and especially the kids are just so grateful to him”.
Over the weekend the juniors did not just race but were also underwent a training session with Paul and Chris in how to relate to the media and the importance of saying the right things and acting the correct way, especially in relation to teams and sponsors. A mini studio was set up in one of the garages and after each race videos were taken of Chris interviewing the riders with the video’s being made available to the MRRDA and the individual riders. After seeing the results it would be fair to say that some of these juniors are not just future track stars.
On the track the racing was fierce with some great battles in all classes. Stellar performers over the weekend were Joel Kelso, Jacob Whitehouse and Nic Liminton who won all four of their races whilst Danielle Foot, Josh Pickering, Troy Guenther, Lawson Walters, Jacob Street, Ben Blyth and Luke Davies also turned in amazing performances with some spectacular duels and sharing wins amongst themselves.
Round 3 of the MRRDA series will be held at Phillip Island on the 1st & 2nd of June.
Round Results:
MRRDA Nippers
1. Joel Kelso (1, 1, 1, 1) 100 Points
2. Scott Nicholson (2, 2, DNF, 2) 66 Points
MRRDA Juniors 80CC
1. Jacob Whitehouse (1, 1, 1, 1) 100 Points
2. Jacob Street (3, 7, 3, 2) 77 Points
3. Callum Alderson (5, 5, 4, 3) 72 Points
MRRDA Juniors 150cc
1. Nic Liminton (1, 1, 1, 1) 100 Points
2. Luke Davies (2, 2, 3, 2) 86 Points
3. Tom Dodd (4, 3, 4, 5) 82 Points
MRRDA 125GP
1. Joshua Pickering (3, 1, 1, 1) 95 Points
2. Max Croker (1, 3, 3, 2) 87 Points
3. Ryan Ritchie (4, 4, 2, 3) 78 Points
MRRDA Moto 3
1. Troy Guenther (1, 3, 1, 1) 95 Points
2. Lawson Walters (3, 1, 2, 2) 89 Points
3. Callum Barker (4, 4, 3, 3) 76 Points
Series Standings:
MRRDA Nippers
1. Joel Kelso 200 Points
2. Scott Nicholson 154 Points
3. Jordy Simpson 80 Points
MRRDA Juniors 80CC
1. Jacob Whitehouse 186 Points
2. Lawson Walters 156 Points
3. Callum Alderson 152 Points
MRRDA Juniors 150cc
1. Nic Liminton 197 Points
2. Danielle Foot 149 Points
3. Lachlan Epis 127 Points
MRRDA 125GP
1. Max Croker 184 Points
2. Ryan Ritchie 165 Points
3. James Carrison 144 Points
MRRDA Moto 3
1. Lawson Walters 189 Points
2. Callum Barker 164 Points
3. Tayla Relph 134 Points
