JARROD BROOKE LEADS AFTN

Queensland’s Jarred Brook has put the AFTN Pro 450 field on notice, taking five from seven race wins over the first two rounds of the Yamaha Blu Cru Aussie Flat Track Nationals at Brisbane’s Mick Doohan Raceway over the weekend. With Brook leading the charge in Pro 450, Neiko Donovan andCooper Archibald traded round wins in Junior Lites while Taylen Howardand Levi Layton in Junior 85 shared a round win each to open their season campaigns.

Round 1

Dale Borlase (Yamaha) set the Pro 450 pace early with the quickest time in Qualifying combined times, but it was Daniel Wicks (KTM) that took the  SuperPole win for round one on the 513m decomposed granite flat track circuit, setting the tone for an epic season-opener. Cyshan Weale (KTM) took the race one win, before Jarred Brook (Husqvarna) took control, with two race wins on a dry and challenging race surface, that ultimately saw the round reduced from four to three races for all competitors.

In Junior 85’s, Taylen Howard (Husqvarna) revelled in the difficult conditions to secure pole and 3 race wins, while an action-packed Junior Lites saw Jed Fyffe (KTM) set the fastest lap in combined Qualifying before Cooper Archibald and Bodie Paige (KTM) battled on track, with Archibald coming out on top, two wins to one.

Local rider Benny Thistleton was hard to fault, with Pole and three wins in Clubman Open as the KTM rider also supported his son racing in Junior 85, while Kenny Angel (Ducati) officially took all three Pro Twins wins, despite Matt Davies aboard a custom frame machine ineligible for points setting the fastest laps and crossing the line first.

Round 2

Track crews worked tirelessly overnight to present competitors with a rejuvenated surface for round two’s TT that saw an incredible day of racing for the Australian Flat Track Championship with Jarred Brook (Husqvarna) once again showing his calibre, taking SuperPole and three race wins, while Cam Dunker (Yamaha) and Daniel Wicks (KTM) tied in Superpole, with the pair taking identical lap times (31.357), before Dunker went on to secure his first AFTN Pro 450 race win at 16 years of age.

Bodie Paige (KTM) set the pace early in Junior Lites with Pole and two race wins, while Jed Fyffe (KTM) closed the round with the final race win, but it was race three winner Neiko Donovan (GasGas) who took the round win, never out of the top three places. Junior 85 saw a strong performance on-track from Levi Layton (KTM), clean sweeping the day ahead of an impressive and consistent result from Lucy Heaton-New (KTM) in second.

Neil Girdler (Husqvarna) regathered after a challenging round 1 to be the fastest Clubman Open qualifier and secure two race wins to finish ahead of Benny Thistleton (KTM), with Pole points the deciding margin.