Metrakit Juniors: breeding the next generation of Aussie champions

For a country with such a small population, it’s fair to say that Australia has been disproportionately successful in motorcycle racing. Despite there being very little money in the sport, from a national level all the way down to club racing, a large number of Aussies have risen to the top levels of the sport, including (to name just a few) Rob Phillis, Troy Bayliss, Troy Corser, Mat Mladin, Gregg Hansford, Ant West, Chris Vermeulen, Garry McCoy, Anthony Gobert, Wayne Gardner, Chad Reed, Mick Doohan and current MotoGP champion Casey Stoner.

But while the racing scene in Australia doesn’t have the glamour or money of the European and American competitions, it’s got no shortage of young talent ready to take on the world. Down under, road racing starts at the age of 8 with a single-make series that’s proving successful around the country as well as in other parts of the world: the Metrakit Junior series.

The Spanish Metrakit bikes are 2-stroke GP replicas in 50cc, 70cc, 80cc and 125cc versions. Kids can get started in the Metrakit series with a bike for as little as AU$8000, which includes a full set of leathers, a helmet and gloves. The engines look almost comical, their single cylinders so small it’s hard to imagine them powering anything other than a backyard lawnmower.

I visited Victoria’s Broadford race circuit on a Metrakit practice day to see how the youngsters were getting along. Rather quickly was the answer; on an 80cc racebike, Nick Diles (pictured top) was getting around the 2.16km track in consistent 1.08s, or only 11 seconds off the outright track record. The Metrakit 80cc record is a 1.07.642 held by Queensland prodigy Dylan Mavin, whose exceptional performance in the domestic series and international tryouts in France has got him a ticket to race in the Red Bull Rookies Cup that will take him around the world as part of the MotoGP 2008 calendar. Watch this kid!

The family nature of the practice day was very evident, with Diles’ mother Jennifer organising flaggies, mustering the kids and co-ordinating with the ambulance crews during a minor incident when a junior from Queensland (whose family had made the 2,000km drive down with him for this practice session) fell off coming onto the front straight.

It was also a good laugh to watch and help out as ex-Australian Superbike champion Rob “Mr Superbike” Phillis (pictured above) swore and cursed at the master cylinder of son Alex’s bike (pictured second), trying to bleed air bubbles out of the lines with the help of Broadford commentator Roger Lawrence. Finally satisfied that it had regained its stopping power, the World Superbike race winner then took to the track on the 80cc racebike to cut a few test laps of his own.

The Metrakit racers might be kids off the track, hooning about on BMX bikes and laughing with mates, but they’re deadly serious when the flag drops, knowing that they have to hit every apex and watch their fitness if they want to break through to any international opportunities. The number one challenge, says Jennifer Diles, as the kids go through their teens, is making sure that they aren’t railroaded by the discovery of girls - or specifically, how much the girls at school tend to like young motorcycle racing stars. It’s easy to get distracted with that sort of attention.

The Metrakit Juniors series is proving a successful entry-level category around the world, an introduction to road racing for beginners and other youngsters with dirt track/motocross experience. And it already looks like it’s breeding some future world champions. Thanks to Jennifer Diles, Roger Lawrence, Rob Phillis and all the young racers I spoke to.Aussies who wish to get their kids involved in the sport should get in touch with Jennifer Diles.