MATCH REPORT: Robb captures Australian Title

Words by Pete Barnes, Photos sent in by Shane Below

A sunny 24c day combined with over 140 entries plus a perfectly prepared race surface and the scene was set for the Salisbury Club to stage the 2019 Australian Championships on Saturday.
The final of the Open event saw Bobby McMillan draw the important inside gate position from Cody Chadwick,Daniel Robb and Farren Wills but a slight “twitch” by Chadwick whilst under starters orders did not escape the attention of experienced match official Steve Denison. In the re run a slight error on the first bend by McMillan gave Robb the opportunity to race into the lead and the well deserved major award.

In the Women’s competition there were no surprises as Letitia Collins led the final from start to finish and with five faultless rides emerged as victor from home based Holly Greenhalgh, Delacia Pride and Jackie Kinross.

In the Veterans it was Paul White who again indicated his domination in this grade and in turn took the prestigious Gold award from Brad Hoppo,Warren Corbett and Sam Rochester.


This level of events has attracted undoubted interest in the home nation and will be a real challenge to the Great Britain squad during the 2020 World Championships. However the Junior Division 2 suggested that the ongoing Australian youth programme is gaining further success with Matty Snowden just clinching the title from Aussie Jones,Blade Blatchford and DJ Thompson.

In the younger Division 3 highly talented Ben Pudney from Braylan MacDonald took the major podium positions and both would
appear at this stage in their career to be in line for selection in the Australian Junior squad in the 2020 World Junior team event.