FOUR Portland BMX Club riders headed to Melbourne for Track Attack last week, with only two able to finish the six-round series.

Track Attack is an annual event held in Melbourne with six nights of racing taking place across nine days.

Stella Middleton, Lukas Jones, Jack Thorp and Seb Finck all made the trek to the popular series with just two of them able to complete all six events.

13-year-old Middleton, who was competing in the 15-year-old girls’ age group, had an impressive series which put her in first place by the end of round six, seeing her take out the title.

“It was really good, I was competing in the 15-year-old girls group but was against some 16-year-old because they group us together depending on numbers,” she said.

“I was so excited and happy with my racing.”

Lukas Jones, who was the youngest of the four at nine-years-old, had some of the toughest competition for the week in a field of over 40 riders.

Despite the big field Jones managed to finish the six-round series in 11th place.

12-year-old Finck was in Melbourne hoping to race on the Tuesday night before testing positive for COVID on the Tuesday morning, ruling him out of the series.

Thorp (18-year-old) who was attending the series for his tenth year in a row was having a solid series before a round three crash sent him to hospital, ruling him out with concussion and other injuries.

Despite not being able to race Finck said it’s a tough thought coming up against the kind of competition that attends these events.

“You get pretty nervous beforehand,” he said.

“You’re coming up against other kids who know the tracks and ride on them all the time and we’re just kids from a small club.”

BMX Australia official and Portland club member Tim Thorp said these events are crucial for rider development.

“The kids have to go to these sort of events and if they’re not, they’re not going to improve as much,” he said.

“It’s the hardest thing as a regional club to get there but it’s really worth it.

“They’re huge events, the largest one out of the six was 431 riders for the day.

“It’s such a good kick off for the year and we had nine international riders attend which is pretty impressive and exciting for the other riders.

“The Track Attack racing has been going for about twenty two years now and it’s appealing to a lot of people.”

Local club gears up for 2023

Now that the Track Attack series has wrapped up the Portland BMX Club is looking ahead to their 2023 season which will kick off with a club event on Wednesday February 8.

Racing will run weekly on Wednesdays until the end of March before the club returns after the school holidays and will race once-a-month over winter.

Club spokesperson Maddy Sutton said things are looking promising for the year after a solid membership build in 2022.

“We have about 45 to 50 riders which for our little club is really good,” she said.

“New people are always welcome though and can come and get involved.

“If they want to they can turn up to the first Wednesday and we can offer a four-week free licence to see if they like it and it is a learn as you go kind of thing.”

Amid their regular racing the club is also expecting to host a big invitational event in March which is expected welcome over 250 riders.