Long Track Bike Racing Back at Wagga Wagga Showground
Motor cycle long track racing is back in Wagga Wagga this weekend, and what’s more it is back at the Wagga Wagga Showground.
This Saturday (October 16) will see the “Nixons Wagga” Riverina Long Track meeting back on the calendar and it will be the first meeting at the Showground since February 2006.
Since then racing has been conducted ‘out of town’ at the Yarragundry Park complex but after several planned meetings failed to eventuate due to poor entries promoter Bob Sunderland has decided to move the racing back into town.
Sunderland said ” Competitors and fans have been calling for a return to the bigger Showground track which is right in the heart of the city”.
The attraction of good prizemoney has seen competitors respond with good entries for the various classes of racing which will be featured on Saturday’s program.
The facilities at the Showground and the spectacle of the bikes on the 800-metre Showground track provide a great setting for what should be a big program of close and exciting racing.
Some riders actually got a shakedown run at the recent Wagga Wagga Show, with the general consensus being that it was good to be back at the venue.
Fans will be treated to a big program of events in both the afternoon and evening sessions.
While the long track slider class always attracts plenty of attention, the various classes of 2-stroke and 4-stroke machines have drawn big fields of quality riders.
Older bikes and older riders are also catered for, and there are junior classes as well.
The timetable for the meeting sees practice start at 12.30 pm on Saturday with racing commencing at the conclusion of practice. There will 42 events staged during the afternoon session which will feature all but two of the classes of machines.
The premier long track slider class and the spectacular dirt track sidecars will have all of their events in the evening session, which will also see the culmination of racing for all the other classes.
A grand parade of competitors will open the evening session at 6 pm followed by another 35 events of racing.
The number of entries received for each class will determine the format for racing with some classes decided over four rounds where points will count for each round.
Those classes with bigger entries will be decided by three rounds of heats, with the top 12 pointscorers then progressing to a final.