It was third time lucky for the 25-year-old from Newcastle, Sam Masters, as he took possession of the 2017 Australian Speedway Senior Solo Championship crown on Saturday night, January 14, in the final round at the Kurri Kurri Speedway Circuit after placing second in well-fought 2015 & 2016 Championships.
Feeling comfortable at his home track, Sam Masters topped the heat scoring highly on 14 points, becoming the number one seed ahead of the A Final decider.
Round 3 winner and 2017 title hopeful Justin Sedgmen did not have the night he hoped for, scoring only 9 points, barley getting him a start in the B Final.
Sedgmen still managed to finish the Championship in second place overall thanks to his consistent racing in previous rounds, sitting on a total of 55 points.
2017 Championship hopes of young gun, Jack Holder (reigning Under 21 champion) have been dashed after he suffered an unfortunate crash in heat eight and was medically cleared of a shoulder injury to score only 3 points for the night. The race included Sedgmen, Campton and Fricke, which restarted without him.
The all-important A Final saw Brady Kurtz, Nick Morris, Sam Masters and Troy Batchelor fly off the line and pile into turn one, where Masters looked to be a little flustered and out of contention. However, he managed to get the rear tyre to bite hard on the exit and launch to the lead.
Immediately after his win an ecstatic of 58 total points, Sam Masters shared: “I won all my heats, but I got second in my last, my engine was starting to get tired. It has been working well all series, but race engines don’t last very long. We got what we needed out of it and I’ve come out the winner!”
The new Championship winner Sam Masters vowed to return and defend his title in 2018, racing harder than ever before to remain on top of the tree.
The 2017 Australian Speedway Senior Solo Championship has been one to remember, seeing some of the tightest and fast paced action that Aussie speedway has to offer. Young and upcoming rider numbers are strong heading into 2018 and there is never ending interest in our riders from top overseas teams for the season ahead.
2017 Australian Speedway Senior Solo Championship Standings after the Final – Round 4:
Sam Masters (58)
Justin Sedgmen (55)
Dave Watt (50)
Troy Batchelor (49)
Max Fricke (47)
Nick Morris (43)
Brady Kurtz (42)
Rohan Tungate (30)
*Top 8 are automatically seeded for 2018 Australian Championship
Kurri Kurri Heat Scores on Saturday, January 14, 2017:
Sam Masters (14)
Brady Kurtz (13)
Troy Batchelor (12)
Rohan Tungate (11)
Dave Watt (11)
Nick Morris (9)
Justin Sedgmen (9)
Max Fricke (8)
Mason Campton (8)
Todd Kurtz (6)
Ty Proctor (6)
Jaimon Lidsey (4)
Jack Holder (3)
Jordan Stewart (2)
Josh Pickering (2)
Cooper Riordan (2)
B Final: Morris, Sedgmen, Tungate, Watt.
A Final: Kurtz, Morris, Batchelor, Masters.
-Results provisional pending results of fuel testing
The full round four score card will be posted on the MA website.
Keep up to date with all the 2017 Australian Speedway Championship news by heading to the Motorcycling Australia website for results and pictures, and as always, follow us on the Motorcycling Australia Facebook and Instagram pages.