QUEENSLAND SHINES
Speedway Australia General Manager Darren Tindal and Queensland Sport Development Officer Bennie Bishop made the 2000-kilometre northbound road trip last week, combining bi-annual track inspections with some catch ups with familiar faces, as well as meeting some new people in the Speedway Australia family.
“The tour started at Kingaroy meeting with club Vice President, Pacey Clegg who’s a fantastic young guy who really understands that it’s not enough to just expect to turn up and race, and that there’s a lot more work that has to be done at a club level to facilitate racing. Every club needs guys like Pacey and his brother Kyron who are really showing the way for the next generation when it comes to volunteering in Speedway,” Darren said, clearly impressed with the boys’ big picture thinking.
From Kingaroy to Gympie, it’s always fun to catch up with Allen Jennings, especially after their amazing improvements of a catchfence around the whole track, ahead of a massive season that includes two national titles and three state titles.
Dinner with Volunteer of the Year Tanya Barron and husband Travis was backed up by breakfast the next morning with Maryborough’s Phil Roberts before a track inspection with Phil and Club President Paul Swindells to check out some of their improvements and discuss some upgrades.
“Maryborough are doing so much and what impressed me was how their received our constructive criticism. They weren’t defensive, but welcomed the input, all in the name of safety.”
Paul Swindells added that he enjoyed having a fresh set of eyes at the venue.
“When you come here multiple times a week, you just get used to the same sights, but having a fresh perspective helps point out things that have gone unnoticed, so we’ve addressed all of those issues straight away.”
Gladstone’s new venue was the next stop, with Bob McCosker returning early from holidays to make the meeting along with Troy Coomber.
“It’s a sensational venue,” said Darren Tindal. “What Bob and his team have done hear is an amazing template for new venues and Bob’s insight and research is staggering. We can’t wait to see this place fully operational.”
Dinner with Rockhampton Speedway’s Daniel Pearce and Jess Bramham once again left the Speedway Australia team upbeat about the future of the sport’s administration, with another club President and Secretary combination under forty year of age doing amazing things to advance the sport and their club.
Bowen Showgrounds was the next stop to meet with Dale McDonnell who has been working on building Outlaw Karts in the area, steadily growing the division with a interest firmly increasing.
George Ward was the next host at the brilliant Pioneer Park Speedway in Ayr. George has taken on a massive challenge and readily admits it’s almost got the best of him at times, but with the promise of 15 practice and events dates for the remainder of the year, George is keen to include four wheel racing at the predominately solo and sidecar venue to help build the sport in the area.
The Friday morning was reserved for our first visit to the DriveIT NQ motorsports facility at Calcium, 35km south west of Townsville.
“They are lot further into their progress than I expected,” Darren said, “ and Greg Fitzgerald and the team there are absolute professionals. We offered some advice on their best way to go about adding a speedway to the facility and look forward to walking along side the team as they continue to build what will be a world class facility. They’re determined and we’re very keen to help them as much as we can to produce another great facility in the north. Watch this space!”
Cairns International Speedway was the final stop on the Saturday night, where we got to see one of the most picturesque venues in the nation in full swing.
“Great atmosphere, great management, and great racing. I had a ball in Cairns and chatted with Glenn, Rob and the crew about a lot of different ideas they have to make the club sustainable, consistent and relevant to the market,” Ben remarked. “What I like about the Cairns crew is that they have a bunch of successful business operators, but still have this teachable attitude where they’re keen to learn from anyone they can to improve everything they do.”
More track visits will continue throughout the year in all states, with the a new Sport Development Officer in WA due to be announced shortly, before embarking on their own tours to meet venue and club operators.
