Our competitiveness started early. When we were about 10 and 12, our dad bought a second dirtbike. Until that point we’d been sharing an old DT175, taking it in turns to thrash around the sugarcane fields, with Dad always on hand to pass on advice.
Once we had a bike each, though, everything was a race. If you weren’t in front you’d be doing all you could to make a pass. This type of mindset from both of us made for some very close riding, which has followed us through to road racing. Fortunately we’ve never had contact on the track – but the same can’t be said on dirt!
It’s not just motorbikes that bring out our competitive sides. Anything from mountain bike riding to a leisurely game of golf always turns into a winner-takes-all competition.
This constant competitiveness has helped bring the success we have achieved in our road racing. As soon as one of us took a step forward, the other would be trying all he could to close the gap.
But we’ve also been able to help each other with advice, which has generally allowed us to be competitive as well as a similar pace, despite different tracks or conditions.
The competition between us has been close, and in 2016 the Victorian Superbike title came down to the final race of the year, where only one point separated us. The final winning margin ended up being just two-tenths of a second, and after the 12 races we had each won six, with a combined gap of 7.003 seconds.
Road racing for us started with a group of mates on a trackday at Phillip Island in about 2009. From there it has grown into an obsession that has introduced us to some great people and given us opportunities we would never have thought possible.
We took the big step from trackdays to racing by contesting the Novice 600 class of the 2010 Hartwell Championship, which proved to be very successful. We really enjoyed our first year of racing with the Hartwell club. Everyone at the club as well as other competitors were really friendly and welcoming, and we highly recommend anyone looking at getting into racing to get in touch with them. It’s a great series run by even better people and you always finish the weekend with a big smile.
The next few years we progressed through the different levels of the Hartwell Championships. We both won the Over 600 Expert Championship as well as the Greg Bailey Feature Race Championship, which are regarded as Hartwell’s premier classes. From there we’ve progressed to Superbikes, winning four Victorian championships (Nathan 3, Tyson 1), getting an opportunity to contest the final two rounds of the CEV Spanish Championship and also winning the Harvie Wiltshire Memorial race twice (Tyson).
Like most people, we race for the thrill of it. The whole family gets involved and there’s no other sport we’ve tried that gives you anywhere near the buzz road racing does.
It’s not just the on-track thrills that keep us coming back to racing, though. We have met some really great people who have become close friends. That includes other competitors as well as businesses and employees who have helped us out massively with their support.
Despite all our hard-fought battles and rivalry on the track, we’ve remained best mates. There have been times when we’ve disagreed about things on the track but within minutes of the helmets coming off it’s all forgotten. We believe this friendship is what has helped us achieve what we have so far. We push each other as hard as we can on the track, on dirtbikes, mountain bikes or whatever, but we are also just as willing to help each other in any way possible.
To keep up to date with our exploits you can follow us on Facebook at 3J Racing.
As published in AMCN Vol 67 No12.
