Cowra speedway rider, Brady Kurtz, totally dominated the “Mallee Bearings” Australian title, Round two, meeting at Mildura’s Olympic Park on Sunday night, winning the Final well ahead of a fast Cowra colleague, Zach Cook and young Queenslander, Keynan Rew, while Josh Pickering failed to complete the journey, but finished in fourth place.
Kurtz continued after a victorious Friday night at the Gillman Speedway to take a lead in the 2025 Championship at the half-way point of the title series. Kurtz was again unbeaten at Mildura, with a win last week in the Phil Crump Classic and on Sunday night, dominated to the extent of lowering the Olympic Park lap record on three separate occasions, the third time being in a cut-throat Semi Final, where he not only made a new lap record, but, in the process, reduced the Four Lap race record substantially. Kurtz now holds all the Solo records at Olympic Park, having, last week, lowered the Six lap record when he clearly won the Phil Crump Trophy so convincingly.
The crowd who attended Olympic Park watched in awe as Kurtz showed supreme authority over the crack field which had assembled for the title. Kurtz has his start technique set perfectly and his ability to drive from the start into turn one and then complete a powerful turn two, taking massive drive down the back straight, has been a feature of his recent wins. Kurtz has obviously worked on perfecting his start technique and it is now paying major dividends.
The young riders, Zack Cook and Keynan Rew were delighted to be on the podium and both look forward to improving their position in the remaining two meetings. Rew finished the meeting on twelve points, a great result for him, as he just dropped a point to Rohan Tungate in heat one and was two points behind Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder in the final heat of the night. Rew has had a stellar season in the UK just gone and with this good showing will take confidence into the last two rounds. Cook finished the heats on just eight points, certainly finishing his night way better than he had started. He managed to just scrape into the second Semi, but made good with his opportunity, especially after Jack Holder blew his engine and he looked even better in the final.
There was the usual amount of “hard luck” stories during the night, including, from three times Champ, Max Fricke who took an unaccustomed fall in turn three of his first lap of racing. Fricke was excluded for causing the race stoppage, having hurt his knee in the fall and whilst he came out again in Heat six, he then withdrew from the meeting.
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Jack Holder was the most unfortunate rider for the night, as he was the only rider to get close to Kurtz and was second highest point scorer. Holder, during his second Semi Final ride, suffered a “blown” engine while leading, thus removing his chance of good points for the round.
A Speedway Grand Prix rider, Holder, had ridden well all night and was clearly disappointed as he limped his machine from the track although his fourteen points will count nicely in the series.
Chris Holder, the older brother of Jack and 2012 World Speedway Champ, was also at the top end of the stack, collecting eleven points but gave way to the younger lads when he finished fourth in Semi one behind Kurtz, Keynan Rew and Ben Cook.
Mildura’s main hope, Jaimon Lidsey, was down on points after a very costly exclusion in heat fifteen, when he touched the tapes at the start. Lidsey was clearly aware of and succumbed to the pressure that the eventual winner was putting on all riders, as he had to start from his gate three position with Kurtz right next to him in gate four in that heat.
Defending Champ, Rohan Tungate, also suffered the indignity of a fall in the second Semi coming through turn three in the first lap. Tungate, at that point, had also blown his chances, which like Fricke and Lidsey, could have a major effect on their overall chances in the title series.
Josh Pickering had been consistent all night and well earned his place in the Final. Unfortunately for “Picko”, he was not able to finish in the Final and took fourth place overall with his nine points collection.
It was pleasing to see the consistency of the Cook brothers, who both made the finals with Zach finishing well and getting second place points overall. Ben, on the other hand, hung on to finish in third place in Semi two, just missing on a final berth, but still taking good points for the round.
Many of the younger lads will put this meeting down to “experience” and hopefully will all learn from a “tough night at the office”. Sydney rider, James Pearson, was the best of those, finishing with five points against strong company while Harrison Ryan, Mitch McDiarmid, Michael West and local Reserve rider, Patrick Hamilton, all finished on three points with Mitch Cluff on two and Dayle Wood completing the night alongside Max Fricke with one point each. Hamilton was worthy of being brought into the field to replace the still injured, Justin Sedgmen, however authorities kept him at the first reserve position. Hamilton alternated with SA’s Harry Sadler replacing Fricke where necessary with the local rider having three rides and was the only other finisher behind Chris Holder in heat eighteen, taking two points in a pleasing ride for him.
The travelling title series moves on to Diamond Park, Wodonga for Wednesday night before travelling to Queensland for the final round on 11th January.
Many riders will be keen to get their 2025 title series back on track, but with only two rounds remaining, it would seem to be Brady Kurtz who holds all the cards. There would need to be a major shift in the score chart to not see Kurtz win his second title, his first being way back in 2016, when he won the title at the Mildura final round.
Kurtz has been a keen and regular participant at Mildura and comes from a family who have put speedway on the map around their home town of Cowra, NSW. Brothers, Todd and Brady have both ridden and their father, Steve, is a stalwart of the Cowra speedway scene.
Kurtz’s home form is a continuation of a splendid season in Europe and England during 2024, where he “skippered” his famous Belle Vue “Aces” to an excellent Premiership League win but, more importantly, clearly won the Speedway Grand Prix Challenge meeting to take a full entry into the 2025 SGP series which will decide that World Speedway Champion for 2025. Mildura patrons will be excited for what Kurtz might do in SGP 2025, maybe after winning the 2025 Australian Solo Speedway Championship next week.
