CHLOE ACKERLEY: DOING IT FOR THE GIRLS

By Mark Neale.

All Photos by: Steven Bloomfield Photography

Speedway sidecar racing is without doubt the most spectacular and dangerous speedway division of all classes, but in the 2023/24 season, a young lady from Mildura is about to break down the barrier.

Chloe Ackerley,who is 17 years of age and wouldn’t be out of place amongst the super models on the Cat Walk with her flowing blond hair, will become the first female sidecar rider to compete on a senior sidecar in Australia for many years.

Queensland’s Kim French was also behind the handlebars in the late 1990s early 2000s who had great success.

Over the years there have been many female sidecar passengers who have had great success winning state titles,

Western Australian Tina Karan is the only female to win the Australian Individual Sidecar Championship at Broken Hill in 1994 as a passenger for Mark Drew.

Chloe recently had her first outing on a senior sidecar behind the handlebars in control with Brendan Tub Johnson as her passenger at her home track at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway.

I SPOKE WITH CHLOE ABOUT HER PAST IN JUNIORS AND WHAT HER AIMS AND GOALS ARE FOR HER FIRST SEASON IN SENIOR SPEEDWAY

GENERAL BACKGROUND QUESTIONS:

HOW OLD ARE YOU.WHAT IS YOUR DATE OF BIRTH?

CA: “I’m 17 years old. My DOB is 12/2/2006”.

DO YOU STILL GO TO SCHOOL OR DO YOU WORK?

CA: “I work full time at MotoTech Mildura as a second year Motorcycle Mechanic apprentice.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY BROTHERS AND SISTERS?

CA: “Yes, I have one younger brother Harley who also races.”

DO YOU HAVE YOUR DRIVER’S LICENCE OR ROAD BIKE LICENCE?

CA: “I have my red P’s and I have a Holden Rodeo”

DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES?

CA: ” I mostly just love racing Speedway and Dirt track. Outside racing I love being with my friends family”.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK AND FOOD?

CA: “Favourite drink would be just plain bottled water and favorite food is spaghetti”

DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA?

CA: ” I have instagram and facebook”

DO YOU FOLLOW AFL OR RUGBY LEAGUE?

CA: “Never watched a game of footy or Rugby in my life”.

SPEEDWAY QUESTIONS:

WHAT IS YOUR SPEEDWAY BACKGROUND?

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN SPEEDWAY?

CA: “When I was four years old my dad bought me a Honda 50 to roar around on in the paddock. We would always go and watch the local speedway at Olympic Park and then one day I told dad I wanted to race. When I was 11 dad brought me a Honda 80 to learn how to clutch, once I was confident on that, he went and bought me a KTM 85 the year later. Since then I’ve had 3 KTM 85s and KTM 250. In 2018 Bryan Gathercole offered me a ride and swing on his junior sidecar. Maddy Busch and myself took turns of riding and swinging on it for a couple of seasons. The end of 2021 I met Paul Nemstas down at Olympic Park who offered me a ride on his junior sidecar. I raced that for my last year in juniors with Eva Whitworth.”

DID YOU COMPETE IN JUNIOR SPEEDWAY?

CA: “Raced junior sidecar in 2018, 2019 also in 2022.”

WHAT CLASS OR CLASSES DID YOU RIDE?

CA: “250cc Junior Sidecar”

HOW LONG DID YOU COMPETE IN JUNIOR SPEEDWAY?

CA: “Three years”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN IN JUNIOR SPEEDWAY AND HAS IT HELPED WITH YOUR SENIOR RACING?

CA: “Juniors taught me how to ride a sidecar in general, how they are set up how to control the bike, what the rider should be doing and also what the passenger should be doing. Although I’ve found that senior sidecars handle a lot different to a junior sidecar, I’ve still been able to use things I’ve learnt on the Junior sidecar with the senior sidecar.”

DID YOU OR DO YOU COMPETE IN ANY OTHER MOTORCYCLE CLASSES?

CA: “I also race Dirt Track/Long Track. I’m currently the 2022 Australian Junior 250cc Girls Track Champion.”

HOW MANY SENIOR MEETINGS HAVE YOU COMPETED IN AS PASSENGER AND WHO FOR?

CA: “I think I’ve competed in four senior sidecar meetings. One of them swinging for Chris Dees, two with Nate Headland and one with Gavin Sedgmen on the classic sidecar.”

WHY DID YOU WANT TO RIDE A SENIOR SIDECAR?

CA: “I absolutely loved racing Paul’s junior sidecar with Eva Whitworth for my last year of juniors and then Paul told me he was getting a senior bike built and asked me if I wanted to ride it and there was no way I was going let down that offer.”

HOW DID IT COME ABOUT YOU TEAMING UP WITH TEAM THOMPSON RACING?

CA: “I’m actually not 100% sure as Paul organised the bike build and all the background work.”

WHAT KIND OF FRAME AND ENGINE IS THE BIKE YOU ARE RIDING?

CA: “We are running a Team Thompson Racing built bike built by Adam Thompson.”

WHERE IS YOUR TEAM BASED?

CA” We are based in Mildura – The home of Speedway.”

WHO HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR SPEEDWAY CAREER TO DATE?

CA: “Myself, to be completely honest. Being the only female rider in Australia who rides a senior Speedway sidecar has kept me motivated to keep going and continue riding and to prove that us females can do it as well and to encourage more females to give it a go.”

WHO HAVE YOU LOOKED UPTO IN SPEEDWAY AS A FAVOURITE RIDER TO WATCH?

CA: “Although Brenton Kerr and Andrew Summerhayes are swingers,I’ve always looked up to them for the things they have both achieved as swingers and for the kind, helpful people they are. They are two people who have always helped me out and I know they’ll do anything to help me.”

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT IN SENIOR SPEEDWAY TO DATE AS BOTH A PASSNGER AND NOW AS A RIDER?

CA: “I’ve realised how much the rider and passenger have to work as a team and how much you both need to understand each other and the bike. Being able to do both ride and swing becomes really handy when giving advice and helps read the bike a lot better.”

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE 2023/24 SEASON?

CA: “Get in as much practice as possible and improve every time I’m on the bike.”

WILL YOU DO MUCH TRAVELLING IN YOUR DEBUT SEASON RIDING?

CA: ” The main place I want to travel to the most is Gillman.”

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE IN YOUR FIRST SEASON OF RIDING IN 2023/24 SEASON?

CA: “I don’t have any big goals as of yet, but just want to improve every ride I do and then for the 2024-25 speedway season I want to try travel a lot more and achieve lots of goals.”

WHO WILL BE YOUR PASSENGER?

CA: “At this stage I’m still just finalising some things, but I hope to have Eva Whitworth back with me in a couple of years once she goes into seniors so we can keep our old Junior team together.”