Have we seen another Casey Stoner in action?

Junior motorcycle racing doesn't incite a lot of popular attention outside of family, friends and a few diehards.

It's not a slight on the riders, but it's just there's more than enough action in the senior ranks to whet the most demanding of appetites.

But if you're keen to find out who the next batch of riders are coming through the ranks, then results like the 2009 Australian Junior Long Track Racing Championship will go a long way towards providing some clues.

Let's indulge for one moment and take a peep at the 1998 and 1999 junior long track results. There were a couple of lads who stood out on those occasions, including Jason O'Halloran, Josh Waters, Blake Leigh-Smith and Chris Seaton.

The quartet is now all forging successful road racing careers, although Leigh-Smith suffered a setback in a nasty crash in Germany a few weeks ago.

And there was another rider who set the championships alight late last century - Casey Stoner.

Of course, we all know what's he's now gone onto reach the MotoGP summit, which again proves that dirt track racing is one of the best environments for aspiring road racers - as the likes of Wayne Gardner, Daryl Beattie, Mick Doohan and Peter Goddard will also attest to.

In fact, Gardner has recently returned to his dirt track roots, and his two sons competed last weekend -- Remy and Luca.

Click here here to check out who did the business in the 2009 junior long track, held at Somersby (NSW) last weekend.

And etch theses names into the memory bank - Josh Bunt, Robbie Menzies-Sargant and Josh Macdonald.

The trio won two championships each at Somersby, so they could be names of the future.

The Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship will be held at Fairbairn Park (ACT) from November 13-15.