MORE SUCCESS FOR MAX

NEWS Sunday 10th February 2013, 10:16am

by Howard Williams

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Teenager Max Fricke has enjoyed further success in his home country by taking top honours in the Undera Solo Pairs along with Jack Holder.

We now have a first-hand report for which we thank Howard Williams.

Max Fricke combined superbly with Jack Holder to take out the Undera Pairs Title at Undera Park on Saturday. They were the best team on show but it still took a run off after the two teenagers tied with the team of Taylor Poole & Brady Kurtz on 23 points each after six rides.

In the run off Poole had got the upper hand from the tapes but Fricke was like a terrier and was soon on the back wheel of Poole waiting for any passing opportunity. Unfortunately for Poole he slid off on lap three but admitted after the meeting he knew Fricke was right behind him and couldn’t relax and just came off trying a bit too hard.

In the meeting proper Max and Jack had opened with a 4-2 against Poole & Kurtz to kick start the meeting on a good footing with Max gaining the three points for the win and Jack slotting in behind Poole for the odd point.

Next up was the team of Ty Proctor and Sean Peterson but with Proctor retiring from the heat early on it was an easy 5-1 with Max this time leaving Jack to take the win.

“Mr Effortless” Chris Holder was the next opponent and it was a case of not doing anything silly and settling for the 3-3. Chris Holder had lost his partner to injury in their first heat so he was in effect a one man team. No one else was going to get close to the elder of the Holders so in the overall meeting sense Max & Jack weren’t really losing anything.

In their fourth outing Max & Jack came up against a surprisingly fast Jake Anderson although Anderson has done more laps around Undera than just about anyone and knows the place like the back of his hand and no matter what Max threw at him Anderson had all the answers and another 3-3 was the result.

A points boosting 5-1 was next as Max & Jack took advantage of the absence of Joey Ringwood who was out with mechanical trouble with Max again netting the three points as they both headed home Robert Medson.

With the final heat looming and Poole & Kurtz also scoring well a shared heat was an absolute minimum requirement and that was duly obtained with Max following home Dakota North and partner Jack.

North is another Undera local who knows the track well and is currently in fine form after finishing the Australian titles as the new Australian number 2 behind Troy Batchelor so a 3-3 was no disgrace.

Then it was on to the run off which for the best part of three laps was an edge of the seat nail biting affair. In the end it was the result from the Australian Under 21 title repeating itself with Fricke victorious over Poole. Fricke was gracious in victory while sympathizing with Poole’s bad luck in falling.

Max also admitted it hadn’t been easy but he was extremely happy with the way 2013 had started out and was hoping it was a sign of good things to come for the rest of 2013.

Scores

1st 23 points Max Fricke (13) Jack Holder (10)

2nd 23 points Taylor Poole (15) Brady Kurtz (8)

3rd 18 points Chris Holder (18) Jackson Milne / Brad Tillet (0)

4th 17 points Dakota North (14) Hunter Anderson (3)

5th 15 points Jake Anderson (11), Bob Stoneham (4)

6th 13 points Ty Proctor (6) Sean Peterson (7)

7th 13 points Joey Ringwood (4) Robert Medson (9)