Personal History
I am 16 years old and live on a farming property in Gorae West, located in the SW corner of Victoria. I attend secondary school full time as a Year 10 student and I have a part-time, after school job at the local IGA Supermarket. I love the farming lifestyle and have a mob of approximately 200 sheep, comprising breeder ewes, stud rams, wethers and sucker lambs. I have started my own small livestock business and have, over the past couple of years, bred and sold flock rams to local commercial sheep farmers.
I started motocross racing in 2018 after my Mum and Dad bought me a Honda CRF150R in early 2017. I loved riding the motorbike and decided I wanted to race. My first year was a bit of a learning curve and I participated in local track and grass Clubby days with Portland Junior Motorcycle Club, which is a smaller club located in Heywood. I also participated in the local Western Region series which includes six rounds held at Portland, Warrnambool, Colac, Ballarat, Ararat and Horsham. I loved it and decided that racing motocross really was for me. One of my sponsors, South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd, supplied me with a 2016 Honda CRF250R, as I was getting too tall for my CRF150R and then a 2017 Honda CRF250R, so I would be set up with a race bike and a spare for racing in 2019, as I wished to become more serious about my riding.
In 2019 I raced local track and grass Clubby days, the Western Region series, Horsham MX Amateurs (team event), Junior Victorian Titles and Junior Australian MX Titles. Mum and Dad were very supportive as we travelled a lot throughout 2019 to these meets. I have also had great support from sponsors throughout 2019 and I wish to mention them here: South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd, Portland Earthmovers, Portland Signworks and A1 Real Estate Solutions.
As I was turning 16 in December 2019, I was moving up to race as a Senior in the 2020 season. In the middle of 2019 South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd supplied me with a 2017 Honda CRF450R to give me time to practice on it for the upcoming 2020 season. At the end of 2019 South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd also supplied me with a 2020 Honda CRF250R for the 2020 season.
At the beginning of 2020 my sponsors, Portland Earthmovers and South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd, moved dirt and built a track base at my home and then provided a professional motocross track builder to build on top of that base. I practice on the track almost every day and love to get out there with a few mates for a bit of fun.
I have fantastic sponsors backing me for 2020. We have been unable to race due to Covid-19 and I have not been able to provide them with much exposure so I wish to mention my 2020 sponsors here also: South West Farmers Livestock Pty Ltd, Nicko's Mechanical, Portland Earthmovers, Midfield Group and A1 Real Estate Solutions.
I can't wait to get racing again in 2021!
Riding Goals
In 2021 I will continue to race local track and grass Clubby days. I will also be participating in the Western Region series, Horsham MX Amateurs (team event) and Senior Victorian Titles. I wish to race in 250cc and 450cc classes as a C Grade rider and, although it will be my first year riding as a Senior, my aim is to ride hard, ride smart and achieve, at the very least, a reasonable overall position in each series.
I would eventually love to become a pro rider, but I know that there is a lot of competition and very few riders make it that far. I figure I will just have to keep trying harder and see how far I can get.
Competitive Highlights
In 2018 I competed as an 85BW - C Grade rider in the Western Region series and come in at 4th place overall out of 23 riders. Not a podium place, but a highlight for me as it was my first year of racing and I did not expect to do very well.
My best competitive achievements would be for 2019. I came in 2nd overall for Junior Lites - C Grade in the Western Region series and 2nd overall for Junior Lites - C Grade in the Junior Victorian Titles Series.
I participated in the 2019 Junior Australian MX Titles in Gillman, South Australia, riding in the 250cc - 15 years class and, although I came in at 36 in a line up of 37, it was still a highlight for me and a really great experience.