Max leads the way Down Under

NEWS Tuesday 9th January 2024, 12:18pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Max Fricke was in excellent form in the third leg of the Australian Championship at Albury-Wodonga today. It was an enjoyable meeting on a track much better than the previous stage. Max has now slipped ahead of the previous leader Rohan Tungate in the standings, with two meetings remaining.

Josh Pickering rode well to score 8 points but had cause to regret a disappointing opening ride when he finished at the back. Zero points from that and also eventual elimination as Ben Cook also scored 8 but went through to the semis because of that heat result.

The gates again were uneven with gate 3 very poor and gate 2 the best, at least early on, but it wasn't such a dominant feature as it had been in the earlier rounds. Josh again didn't get the best of the draw but it was that heat 1 which cooked his goose.

He took a race win over Ryan Douglas and Chris Holder in heat 12, bullying the ex-World Champ (his Sheffield team mate) to the first bend, and his other standout ride was heat 20 in which he battled from the back past Zach Cook and Keynan Rew. He finished just short of Sam Masters but also just that one point short of making the semi.

Masters himself did make the semi but was caught for speed at that stage. The result of the final was Fricke, Douglas, Ben Cook, Tungate. Max has ridden superbly in the series in spite of not gating all that well and certainly deserves his lead in the championship.

Most impressive of the less experienced riders was wild card Jack Morrison, on the pace throughout.

Remaining rounds:

4th round Mildura Jan 11th

5th round Gillman Jan 13th