FRICKE FACES TOUGH OPPOSITION

Feature photo by: High Speed Photographix

Speedway GP star Max Fricke is expecting some “extremely strong” competition for the 2023 Australian Championship as he bids to become only the second Aussie to win four national titles on the bounce.

Fricke comes up against a stellar field, featuring Speedway GP rivals Jason Doyle and Jack Holder, plus 2012 world champion Chris Holder and former champions Brady Kurtz, Rohan Tungate and Sam Masters in a championship, which will decide Australia’s entrants for the Speedway GP qualifying rounds.

The four-round series commences at Adelaide track Gillman on Tuesday, before heading to Albury on the New South Wales-Victoria border on January 7. Hunter Valley track Kurri Kurri hosts round three on January 9, and the series concludes at North Brisbane on January 11.

Fricke claimed the 2019 and 2020 crowns, before the 2021 series was cancelled due to the pandemic. He then won the delayed 2022 Aussie Championship at Gillman on December 10, when it was staged as a one-day event.

That came as a timely boost for Fricke in his first meeting back after suffering a broken sternum, bruised lungs, a sprained shoulder, a cracked shoulder blade and concussion in a season-ending crash in the Polish First Division play-off final decider at Zielona Gora on September 24.

But Fricke knows he will have to be at his best to match Billy Sanders’ record of four straight Aussie titles, set between 1980 and 1983, in what could be the most competitive national series for a decade.

He said: “The championship is going to be extremely strong. We have a lot of really good riders from Australia competing on the world stage at the moment, and everyone has come home to do this. It’s not going to make this Australian Championship easy at all.

“The boys I am up against are extremely capable and will want to take that Australian Championship off me.

“But at the same time, we are there to have fun. It’s nice for all of us to race with our families behind us – everyone gets a rare chance to watch us live. There’s a lot of fun involved as well as the prize on the line of being Australian champion.

“The goal is to go out there and try to win the title, but at the same time, there are other things on the line – GP qualifying places and things like that.”

Fricke was delighted to complete a hat-trick of national titles earlier this month in a meeting which didn’t feature any of his likely 2023 title rivals. But he admits he is still getting back to full fitness after his crash in Poland.

“It was nice to defend my title,” he said. “A lot of the guys didn’t choose to ride in this year’s Australian Championship. I did it because I wanted to keep my run up. It looks good on my CV to have three in a row.

“Overall, it was just good to get back on the bike. I hadn’t ridden for a long time, so it was good to get used to racing again. I am alright now, and my body is feeling okay. I am still building up a little bit of strength as I go, and that will come with time.

“We will go into the 2023 series with an open mind. I have just come back from an injury, so I’ll see where I am at, and hopefully I can progress over the course of the championship and get back to racing as I normally do.”