Kyle Middleton 2018 Trials Champion

He came, he saw, he conquered. 28-year-old Kyle Middleton once again has re-written the history books by becoming the first rider to win six straight Australian Solo Championships, after he crushed his rivals at the 2018 Delecca’s Australian Trial Championship at Sedgwick in Victoria. After scoring 14-points on Saturday, the New South Welshman went on to score 25-points on Sunday, which saw him finish on top of the points tally with just 39-points to his name.

Dominating the competition over the weekend, Middleton proved that he is in fact still human, suffering from fatigue on Sunday thanks to his display of unmatched skill and perseverance on Saturday. “The body simply didn’t feel right today,” said Middleton at the conclusion of Sunday’s race. Middleton came into the weekend with a fair bit of self-doubt due to returning from the year’s Scottish Six Day Trial back in May with a lot of injuries. This doubt clearly began to impact Middleton‘s confidence where bad sections damaged his overall score for the weekend.

Since returning from the 2018 Scottish Six Day Trial, Middleton has really struggled with his injuries and returning to peak form. The struggle in overcoming his newfound injuries caused Middleton to seriously consider whether he would be physically capable of competing in the 2018 Australian Trial Championship.

“I guess all the stress was for nothing, because I rode fairly well this weekend,” expressed Middleton, who rates his sixth championship as his best, purely because it has been the hardest to win. I came into this weekend with a bit of self-doubt, however, once I got halfway through the first lap on Saturday I understood that I was riding quite well. To be able to win this year’s championship is a great feeling, but most of all it’s a massive relief,” added Middleton. Middleton has declared that he will be back in 2019 to try and defend his championship, and hopefully make it a seventh straight title. “As next year’s championship will be held in Tasmania, for sure Chris [Bayles] will be a tough person to beat, we will be riding in his ‘own backyard’. Hopefully in the off-season I’ll take a bit of time off and try and get my body right. If we do that, we should be more than fine,” concluded Middleton.

66-points off Middleton in second place was young gun, Connor Hogan, who continues to impress, proving that he is a future star of the sport. Just three points off Hogan was the 38-year-old, Colin Zarczynski. Chris Bayles and Bruce Le Riche rounded out the top 5. Kristie McKinnon kept her fine form going into the second day of racing by racking up a total of just 6-points for the day, which saw finishing with a grand total of 14-points and her ninth Australian Championship in the Women’s category! Michelle Coleman finished second to McKinnon on 73-points, while Lillie Yiatrou finished third on a count back with Nicole Casey, as Yiatrou got 14 cleans to Casey’s 13.
Completing the top five respectfully was Jenna Lupo with 159-points.

Taking out the Junior 12 – under 16 Championship was Tom Woodhouse, which marks his first ever national championship. Finishing in second and third was Alex Cowan and Maverick Ford, with Haydon Barwick and Rhys Dundon completing the top five.

For full details on the overall championship, head to the MA website.