 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Australia national under-21 speedway team" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Australia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Association | Motorcycling Australia | ||||
| FIM code | MA | ||||
| Team manager | Mark Lemon | ||||
| Team captain | Brady Kurtz | ||||
| SWC Wins | 0 | ||||
| Squad | |||||
| World Championships | |||||
| |||||
| Best result | 2nd (2012,2016,2017) | ||||
| |||||
| Best result | 1st - last one in2016 (Max Fricke) | ||||
TheAustralia national under-21 speedway team is the national under-21motorcycle speedway team ofAustralia and is controlled by theMotorcycling Australia. Like the seniorAustralian team, the Under-21s are managed by former riderMark Lemon.
The team has qualified to theUnder-21 World Cup Final on four occasions, though they only raced in the final three of those times. These came in2008 when they finished fourth,2011 when they won their semi-final but were forced to withdraw due to travel cost and visa problems,2012 when the team finished in second place, and again in2013 when they finished fourth.
The Australian team was guaranteed a place in the2015 World Championship Final due to it being held at theOlympic Park Speedway inMildura on 31 October. It was the first time that the Under-21 Team Championship Final was held outside ofEurope or theUK and was held just one week after the2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia was run in theVictorian state capitalMelbourne.[1] The Aussie's finished third on the night behind winnersPoland and runner-upDenmark.[2]
Australia has produced fourUnder-21 World Champions:Leigh Adams (1992),Jason Crump (1995),Darcy Ward (2009 and2010) andMax Fricke (2016). In1983,Steve Baker won the European Under-21 Championship open for riders from all continents. The European Championship was renamed as the World Championship in 1988.
Crump would go on to win theSpeedway World Championship in2004,2006 and2009. Adams has won a record 10Australian Championships and jointly holds the record forAustralian Under-21 Championships with four wins with2012 World ChampionChris Holder, while Ward is also a triple Australian Under-21 Champion. Baker won theSouth Australian Championship in 1985 and second in the Australian Championship in 1987.
The current Australian Under-21 team (at the2016 World Championship Final) was reigning Australian championBrady Kurtz (c), triple Australian Under-21 championMax Fricke,Jack Holder,Jake Allen and reserveCameron Heeps. The team finished in second place on 37 points inNorrköping,Sweden behind winnersPoland who scored 44 points.Denmark and host nationSweden finished in 3rd and 4th places respectively.
* Due to cost of travel and visa problems, Australia withdrew from the 2011 Final,
Lonigo,Pista Speedway -Steve Baker 13pts
Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm,Speedway Stadion Pfaffenhofen -Leigh Adams 14+3pts
Tampere,Ratinan Stadion -Jason Crump 13+3pts
Goričan,Stadium Milenium -Darcy Ward 13pts
Gdańsk,
Daugavpils,
Pardubice -Darcy Ward 30+3pts
King's Lynn,Pardubice,Gdańsk -Max Fricke 46pts*Steve Baker's win in 1983 was when it was known as theEuropean Under-21 Championship
| |
