 Luke Madill National BMX Championships heads to Shepparton The 2010 BMX National Championships will be held in Shepparton from 5 to 9 May, the first time the Championships has been held in regional Victoria.
The event has attracted more than 2700 race entries from around Australia. Competitors will race on the new 370 metre track built by the Olympic Games track builder, Tom Ritzenthauler. One of the Australia’s best known riders, Luke Madill, will be looking to claim a record fourth national elite crown. The 29 year old Olympian has been racing since he was 5, and this year will compete in his 25th consecutive Australian Championship. As a three time elite national champion, Madill is on par with two other riders, Kamakazi and Anthony Way but a win on Saturday will see him make history. Also planning on picking up an elite title will be Brian Kirkham (Adelaide). The 24 year old will only get two weeks of training after suffering a broken scapula and hand. Billy Jolliffe (Newcastle) will also be out to reclaim the title while Western Australia’s Brock Murray could make the podium. Another one to watch is Alex Cameron (Sydney) who has had a consistent season. World number one Sam Willoughby (Adelaide) and other members of the Australian High Performance squad are competing in the second round of the BMX Supercross World Cup in Copenhagen but Sam’s brother, Matthew Willoughby, will be on the start line after fully recovering from a broken ankle. Two former junior champions 2009 Junior World Championship bronze medallist Anthony Dean and last year’s Australian junior champion, Michael Chasteauneuf (Melbourne), will this year step up to elite competition and will be hoping to make their mark. The elite women’s winner will be hard to pick as defending champion, Caroline Buchanan (Canberra) and top riders Lauren Reynolds (Bunbury) and Rachel Bracken (Townsville) are also in Copenhagen for the World Cup. Cherie Simpson (Gold Coast) is eager to win but 32 year old mother of two, Jaclyn Wilson-Thompson (Bendigo) is expected to be a contender. Victorian, Matthew Dunsworth, has dominated the junior men’s competition this season and but Canberra’s Ryan Henderson and Darryn Goodwin from Western Australia are also tiped to perform well. Queenslanders, Melinda McLeod (Mackay) and Lacey Oliver (Gold Coast) will do battle in the junior women’s competition in which Perth’s Kirsten Dellar is hoping to defend her crown. Pre-titles racing is held on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's final round of the National Series. On Friday the challenge classes compete and on Saturday the elite classes return to the track to decide the Australian Champions in elite and junior men's and women's divisions. The cruiser class competition will be contested on Sunday. | |
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