Dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced banked oval racetracks. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorc ...

is a type of

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

performed on clay or dirt surfaced oval tracks in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The seasons tend to be from September to April. There are a large number of tracks available Australia wide, with some of the most popular ones being Perth Motorplex, Bunbury Speedway, Speedway City, Premier Speedway Warrnambool (Sungold Stadium) and Sydney Speedway (trading as Valvoline Raceway). The richest and best known Speedway series in Australia is the

World Series Sprintcars World Series Sprintcars was a dirt track racing series held in Australia for Sprintcars. It was the richest and best known Speedway series in Australia. The series was last run in 2019/20 summer season. The COVID-19 pandemic was the originally ...

. The series was conceived by

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

based sedan driver and promoter John Hughes in 1986 as an Australian version of the famous

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

(WoO) series run in the United States since 1978. The most recent season was the 2014–15 World Series Sprintcars season. There is also a single meeting

Australian Sprintcar Championship The Australian Sprintcar Championship is a dirt track racing championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion for winged sprint car racing. The single championship meeting runs in either late January or early February and ...

which is run over 12 rounds during the Australian Speedway season (as of 2013–14). The Australian Sprintcar Championship has been contested every year since 1963. Only open to Australian Sprint Car drivers, the Championship is for winged 410ci cars. It is contested at a different track each season, on a state-by-state rotational basis. The 2015 Championship was held at

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

's Bunbury Speedway. The 2016 title will be held at Victoria's Premier Speedway. The most successful driver of the Championship's history is Garry Rush with 10 wins. Another popular annual event is the Australian Super Sedan Championship. Chris Holder

The composition of the dirt on tracks has an effect on the amount of grip available. Tracks can be composed of any of the following materials; clay, dirt, sand, Dolomite, crushed granite and crusher dust. Some tracks are also banked or semi-banked, although most are flat. The Ultimate Sprintcar Championship (USC) recently announced a new television show which will be broadcast on

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...

, which is the most comprehensive free-to-air deal in the history of a few premier Sprintcar venues. It will run from early November 2015 until the end of April 2016. The new program will be known as "Ultimate Sprintcar".

Motorcycle Speedway returns to Australia

Despite Australia being the birthplace of

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

in 1923, and producing two World Champions since 2002 in

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia (UK born). He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, and a World Cup winner. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Crump finished with sev ...

(

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

) and

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider, who was the 2012 World Speedway Champion. He is also five times Australian champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Career Hold ...

(

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

), as well as dual Under-21 World Champion

Darcy Ward Darcy Stephen Ward (born 4 May 1992 in Nanango, Queensland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Under-21 Championships as well as the 2009 and 2010 World Under-21 Championships. C ...

(

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

), the Speedway Grand Prix of Australia has not returned to the

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first ...

calendar as of

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

. This is set to change from 2015 with

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, a 53,359-seat stadium with a

retractable roof A retractable roof is a roof system designed to roll back the roof of a structure so that the interior of the facility is open to the outdoors. Retractable roofs are sometimes referred to as operable roofs or retractable skylights. The term o ...

and movable seating, signing a 5-year deal to host the event. Eithad is mostly used by the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

so a temporary track (early estimates put it at approximately long) will need to be installed for the 2015 event scheduled to be held on 24 October (after the end of the

2015 AFL season The 2015 AFL season was the 119th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured eig ...

). The Grand Prix is set to be the 12th and final round of the

2015 Speedway Grand Prix The 2015 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 70th edition of the official World Championship and the 21st season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, deciding the FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the fifteenth series under the promotion of Be ...

series. Triple World Champion

and ten time Australian Champion

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also wo ...

will serve as Australian SGP ambassadors in 2015. The

Australia national speedway team The Australia national speedway team is one of the leading teams in international motorcycle speedway, with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The team are five times champions of the world having won the sports p ...

are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The current team is managed by former rider

Mark Lemon Mark Lemon (30 November 1809, in London – 23 May 1870, in Crawley) was the founding editor of both ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' and ''The Field (magazine), The Field''. He was also a writer of Play (theatre), plays and verses. Biography ...

, (who also managers the Australia national under-21 speedway team) and captained by 2012 World Champion

. Australia finished 3rd in the 2014 Speedway World Cup Final on 2 August in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. Of the 15 permanent riders of the SGP, three of them are Australian; *

Troy Batchelor Troy Matthew Batchelor (born 29 August 1987) is an Australian speedway rider. Career Australia Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Troy Batchelor enjoyed his first success when he won the 2001 Queensland and New South Wales Under-16 championshi ...

Jason Doyle Jason Kevin Doyle (born 6 October 1985) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. He became World Champion in 2017 after winning the 2017 Speedway Grand Prix. Doyle is a member of the Australia national speedway team and represented his coun ...

Popular events

Some of the more notable and popular dirt track races include: *

* Australian Late Model Championship * Australian Speedcar Championship *

* Australian Super Sedan Championship * Australian Street Stock Championship * Australian Compact Speedcar Championship *

Australian Individual Speedway Championship The Australian Individual Speedway Championship historically known as the Australian Solo Championship is a motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion. It is organised by Motorcycling Australia ...

Australian Sidecar Speedway Championship The Australian Sidecar Championship is a speedway championship held each year to determine the Australian national champions. The event is sanctioned and run by Motorcycling Australia (MA) and is held in a different state every year. The Austral ...

* Australian Speedcar Grand Prix *

Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic The Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is an Australian dirt Sprint car racing meet that takes place at the Sungold Stadium Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria every year in late January. The classic traditionally takes place one week before ...

* Australian Sprintcar Grand Prix *

Kings Challenge The Kings Challenge is an annual dirt track racing meeting held in Australia for Sprintcars. The meeting is held at the long Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier, South Australia. After the success of the 1995 Australian Sprintcar Championship ...

* National Super Sedan Series * Sidecar Grand Slam

Types of classes

There are several types of classes in Australian speedway including: * Sprintcars * Compact Speedcars (known as TQ Midgets elsewhere) *

Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

Sidecar speedway Sidecar Speedway is a motorcycle sport involving 4 crews of a rider and a passenger competing over 4 laps on an oval shale surface. Rules are governed by the national speedway federation and are not dissimilar to conventional speedway rules. Si ...

* Stockcars * Speedcars (known as Midgets elsewhere) * VSC Standard Saloons * VSC Sport Sedans *

Late model Late Model stock car racing, also known as late model racing and late models, refers to a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other primarily on oval tracks. This type of racing was early-on ...

* Open sportsman * Demolition derbies * Wingless Sprints * Formula 500 * Legend Cars *

Monster truck A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock p ...

s * Mod Lites * V8 Dirt Modifieds * SSA Street Stocks * SSA Production Sedans * SSA Junior Sedans * SSA National 4s * SSA Modified Sedans * SSA Super Sedans

Venues

New South Wales

* Lismore Speedway * Loxford Park Speedway *

Newcastle Entertainment Centre Newcastle Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose Australian arena within the Newcastle Showground. It was opened in 1992.Sydney Speedway Sydney International Speedway, known as Sydney II as its successor to the original circuit, is a dirt track racing venue held near the shutdown area of Sydney Dragway in Eastern Creek. Like the original, it is about 500m (0.311 miles) in length ...

Northern Territory

* Arunga Park Speedway * Katherine Speedway * Nhulunbuy Speedway * Northline Speedway * Tennant Creek Speedway

Queensland

Brisbane Exhibition Ground The Brisbane Showgrounds (formerly known as the Brisbane Exhibition Ground) is a multi-purpose venue located in Bowen Hills, Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1875, it hosts more than 250 events each year, the largest being the Royal Queen ...

South Australia

Borderline Speedway Borderline Speedway, is a dirt track racing venue in the Australian state of South Australia located in the locality of Glenburnie, South Australia about east of the city of Mount Gambier. Racing at the speedway generally takes place between ...

Gillman Speedway Gillman Speedway (sometimes called Gillman Speedway Stadium) is a purpose built, long motorcycle speedway located in the Adelaide suburb of Gillman in South Australia. The track opened in 1998 and runs approximately 13 meetings per season fr ...

* Murray Bridge Speedway * Sidewinders U/16 Speedway * Speedway City *

Wayville Showgrounds The Adelaide Showground holds many of Adelaide's most popular events, including the Royal Adelaide Show. The Showground (also popularly known as the Wayville Showgrounds) is located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, just s ...

Victoria

* Avalon Raceway * Olympic Park Speedway

Western Australia

* Bunbury Speedway * Perth Motorplex

References

{{Reflist

External links

Speedway Australia, Governing body