TEAM AUSTRALIA RETAIN THE FIM OCEANIA TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP DURING TRIALS WEEK SA 2023.

Team Australia fought off a tough New Zealand side to retain the FIM Oceania Championship on home soil, with the win being the first on home soil since 2015 and also a redemption of sorts after being beaten 3-0 the last time it was held in South Australia in 2017.

Barina, at Eden Valley in South Australia was the venue for the 25^th edition of the Championship, with New Zealand sending a strong team, led by the evergreen Warren Laugesen, himself twice an Australian Open Solo Champion, and Peter Jackson on a Twinshock, and they were joined by 3 exciting young riders, Cameron Judd (Youth), Finn Pearce (9-U16) and Zack Furniss (7-U13) who quickly adapted to Australian conditions and showed at the AMX Superstores 2023 SA Trial Championships that they were going to be very worthy challengers!

Team Australia was selected straight after the SA Trial Championships, and were being led by Luke Anderson from the ACT (Trial 2) and Matt Hannaford from Victoria (Twinshock), who were joined by some of Australia’s fast rising talent, the Tasmanian duo of Will Thornbury in Youth and Jack Salter in Junior 9-U16 and Queensland’s Mitchell Teale in Junior 7-U13, with most thinking that this was going to be a closely fought battle over the 2 days of the Championships.

Crazy warm weather welcomed all riders for day 1 of the Vine Inn Barossa 2023 Australian Trial Championships, powered by GASGAS, alongside of which the FIM Oceania Championship was being run, and the organising Keyneton Motorcycle Club had set 2 separate loops of 15 sections for the record 160 bike field!

At the end of day 1 there was very little in it, with the Championship still very much up in the air and Day 2 dawned warm, but not quite as much as day 1, with the temperature dropping from the mid 30’s to the mid to high 20’s, much to the relief of the riders and observers!

Day 2 was once again a fiercely fought battle, but perhaps the ride of the day came from the youngest rider on Team Australia, Mitch Teale! Mitch had, for him, a day to forget on day 1, with a number of mistakes pretty much ruling him out of Australian Championship contention as was the quality of the 7-U13 Class, but, determined to make up for it on day 2, Mitch rode clean all day to drag himself up from 6^th overnight into a podium position, and most importantly in from of his NZ counterpart, Zack Furniss by day’s end, and in doing so gain some valuable, and vital, points for Team Australia, in a superb display!

And it didn’t stop there, with the ‘Next Gen’ strutting their stuff in Youth and Junior 9-U16 as well, with Will Thornbury getting the job done over NZ’s Cameron Judd, while in Junior 9-U16, NZ’s Finn Pearce got the chocolates over Jack Salter, which really put the young riders from both countries into the spotlight over the weekend, which is exciting for the future of the sport, both here in Australia and across the ditch as well, with, hopefully, many more of these battles to come!

At the end of 90 tough sections over the 2 days, Australia came out a mere 6 points in front of New Zealand, with the breakdown so, with their Australian Trial Championship placing listed first, and FIM Oceania points listed second:

Trial 2

1st 25 points Warren Laugesen (NZ)

2nd 22 points Luke Anderson (AUS)

Youth

1st 25 points William Thornbury (AUS)

2nd 22 points Cameron Judd (NZ)

Junior

1st 25 points Finn Pearce (NZ)

1st 25 points Jack Salter (AUS)

Junior 7 to under 13

3rd 20 points Mitchell Teale (AUS)

4th 18 points Zack Furniss (NZ)

Twinshock

1st 25 points Matthew Hannaford (AUS)

4th 18 points Paul Jackson (NZ)

So, Australia emerged triumphant in the 2023 FIM Oceania Trial Championship with a total of 114 points to 108 points, but New Zealand still hold the bragging rights, now only 13-12 with Australia having won the last two editions.

With the next chapter in this long running Championship due to be held over the ditch, Australia will have the chance to equal the ledger, but also one thing to be aware of is that the Championship celebrates 50 years in 2025 – so it would be nice to see a huge event organised to celebrate the half century of this great event – bring it on!

THIS COMPETITION WAS ORIGINALLY NAMED THE ‘TRANS TASMAN TROPHY CHALLENGE’

RENAMED THE ‘OCEANIA CHALLENGE/CHAMPIONSIP – AND NOW THE FIM OCEANIA TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP

PICS: Eric McConnochie