From Dirt Karts To Sprintcars

By Phil Michell  28-09-06

Over the past few seasons the 360ci Sprintcar ranks have been inundated by former dirt kart drivers stepping up into the upper echelon of the sport. The latest to join the growing list is talented Murray Bridge resident Ryan Jones. Despite only making a handful of starts late last season the 21 year old proved he will be a force to contend with once he has had a little more seat time in his beautiful bright red #63 Maxim.

Although Ryan is a relative newcomer to Speedway he has been racing almost his entire life, beginning in Dirt Karts at the Strathalbyn Go-Kart Club at the age of four. “We started racing Karts in March 1989 in a Victa powered Kart, I can’t even remember the chassis type, and we raced that for a couple of years in the junior ranks. I actually had to race against the likes of Luke Dillon, who were probably five or six years older than I was at the time. After racing in the Junior ranks for around 10 to 12 years I moved up into the Senior ranks and into the Open KT division”.

During his time in Karts he has had a fairly distinguished career including second in the Australian Championship last year in the KT Heavy ranks and three third placed finishes in the South Australian Championship in the KT Medium class. It is because of this solid Karting background that Ryan decided to take that extra step into the wild world of Sprintcar racing.

“Racing Sprintcars is unreal. Nothing can compare to them. The closest thing that I had ever done was racing my 100cc Rotary Commer Motor but the instant power of the Sprintcar has is amazing, and there is still more there that I haven’t used. There may be a day that I walk up to PM (Peter Michael) and say that we need a bit more horsepower but that is a fair way off at the moment” he added with great enthusiasm as we spoke in his workshop.

 Despite only competing at a handful of events late in the 2005/06 season Ryan still managed a number of creditable results including time trialing inside the top five at the 2006 360ci Sprintcar Nationals at Murray Bridge. “I had expectations of doing well, I sat at home here on the lounge with Mum and Dad and said I would be annoyed if we didn’t time in the top half of the field but we didn’t expect a top five. We stood on the hill a fortnight before and watched the open cars at the South Australian Championship and Stephen Bell absolutely demorilised the field and then to time trial two one hundredths slower than Stephen Bell and a tenth off of the pole was unreal, I had never time trialed anything in my life. Darryl (Wright) who has raced there for years, (Jamie) Cobby, who has raced for a living, Stephen Bell and Michael Burford, they are at the top end of Sprintcar racing and to be up there with them with only a handful of laps under my belt was really good” added Ryan in a proud fashion.

Going into his second season of competition, which in fairness in fact will be his first full year, Ryan has set himself for a big year and by season’s end there is one thing that he really hopes to achieve. “ Without sounding cocky I hope that I can win an A-Main this year, whether it be at Murray Bridge or Speedway City it won’t really matter, but if we don’t win a feature I can say that we will be disappointed. To win an A-main would be good, especially at one of the notable meetings such as the Masters, the Friday Night at the Classic or as the support category to a World Series round. To win with a lot of people in the crowd would definitely be good”.

Further to his plans for the coming year Ryan has set himself to compete at around 20 shows with events scheduled for a majority of the high profile tracks in both South Australia and Victoria. “We believe Sprintcar racing is about traveling and experiencing new tracks. Having said that we will still attempt to run as many shows at Speedway City and Murray Bridge as we can but we also want to experience racing at other venues such as Warrnambool and a few country venues. We are also planning on going to the Australian 360ci Nationals at Kalgoorlie”.

So if you a regular on the hill at 360ci Sprintcar events keep an eye on the red and green Rowe Aluminium and Powder coating / Oz Signs #63 Maxim, as Ryan is a young man in a hurry and it won’t be long before he makes a real impact on the wild world of Sprintcar racing.

Article by Phil Michell, printed on page 30 of edition #311: September 6 - 20, 2006 of “Speedway Racing News” magazine.