MX Nationals farewells Broadford

WEM’s Kevin Williams explains why the MX Nationals will not return to Broadford, despite the venue’s historic significance for Australian motocross.

Two weekends ago at Broadford’s third round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals, WEM’s Kevin Williams announced that the MX Nats would not return to Victoria’s iconic MX track. But after so much history at this track – Mister Motocross, MX Nats and rounds of the World Motocross Championship in 2000 and 2001, which helped propel the international careers of Chad Reed, Andrew McFarlane, Brett Metcalfe and Michael Byrne – what is WEM’s rationale behind the move away from Broadford? Which venue will take Broadford’s place on the 2017 MX Nats calendar? And what about the coincidence that the MX Nats’ last hurrah at Broadford took place the day before the sixth anniversary of Andrew “Sharky” McFarlane’s tragic death at the venue; a track that, ironically, will forever be synonymous with the Australian’s gritty MXGP rides there.

In the lead-up to this weekend’s South Australian round of the MX Nats at Murray Bridge, we posed those questions to WEM’s Kevin Williams.

Transmoto: What prompted WEM’s announcement that the MX Nats will no longer run at Broadford, Kevin?
Williams: Every club that now runs a round of the MX Nats has a real buy-in to the series and they pride themselves on ensuring the track is perfect. That’s why the end-of-season award for the best-presented round is so coveted by these clubs. At Broadford, there is no club to assist with the running of the round. And, unlike other tracks, there is no investment in improving the facility at Broadford at the moment. Added to that, Broadford has a 9am Sunday morning noise curfew, which means our conventional 8.30 start to the day’s race schedule has to be delayed. That’s not workable with our plans to bring our scheduled start forward to 8am.

Given your long history with Broadford – running the two World MX Championship rounds there, and Andrew McFarlane’s death at the venue six years ago, almost to the day – the decision to leave Broadford behind must be a bittersweet for you.
It was, Andy. And my association with Broadford extends way back to racing there myself as a 16-year-old Junior. I’ve done a lot of laps and spent many hours at the track as a rider, spectator and promoter, so the decision not to continue there with the MX Nats wasn’t an easy one. After all, Broadford and Toowoomba were the only two of the iconic Mister Motocross tracks left on the national calendar. That said, WEM has a staff of 26 people, but to run a really good round, you need a lot more people from the host venue’s club to assist. We can’t allow the championship’s standards to drop, so we need to partner with venues associated with clubs who are committed to the series.

It was quite a coincidence that the final MX Nats round at Broadford came just one day ahead of the anniversary of Andrew McFarlane’s death at the venue.
Of course that didn’t slip our attention, and we held a minute’s silence during the riders’ briefing to recognise the occasion. I have so many incredible memories of what that guy did at this track – both in national and international competition. Who can ever forget his memorable holeshot at the first GP there in 2000, and his dices with the likes of Joel Smets and then his teammate Stefan Everts the following year? Sharky’s performance that first year at Broadford launched his international career, which you captured in your Ripping Yarn piece about the feat a few years back.

Can you announce what venue will replace Broadford on the MX Nats calendar for 2017?
For next season, we’ll still have three rounds of the series in Victoria. We’ll continue at Horsham, and we have a two-year deal in place with Shepparton. We can’t announce the third venue for 2017 just yet, but I can tell you the national series has been held there before and that we’re planning to put a three-year deal in place with the venue (our guess is that it’ll be Wonthaggi, but stay tuned for WEM’s announcement – Ed).

THE RIPPING YARN

Click here for a free-to-view download of the Ripping Yarn feature about McFarlane’s infamous holeshot at the 2000 Broadford GP, and Kevin William’s recollections of the historic day for Australian motocross.