MotoGP winners for Aussie supermoto

The Australian Supermoto Championship makes its return to the Whitsunday Raceway, Proserpine (Qld) from June 13-15, with three headline-grabbing acts in the newly introduced Legends class – Troy Bayliss, Garry McCoy and Chris Vermeulen.

The trio is all world superbike and MotoGP winners (McCoy when it was the 500cc class), while Bayliss was a three-time winner of the WSBK title by the time he retired at the end of 2008.

All three riders contested Bayliss’ eponymous dirt track event in Taree (NSW) earlier this year, and otherwise keep themselves ‘race fit’ in a variety of other race track-based activities.

McCoy, in particular, has been a massive fan of the hybrid dirt-bitumen discipline, and in 2006 even made plans to contest the then burgeoning world title on a KTM, before his plans were scuppered because of a lack of sponsorship. But there’s no doubt supermoto is well suited to his spectacular, tyre-smoking riding style -- which reached a crescendo during his 500cc outings on the Red Bull Yamaha in the early noughties (pictured).

In Proserpine, the KTM-mounted McCoy will also compete in the S1 and Vets Unlimited classes, while in the premier S2 category Andy McLeish will mount his defence after returning home from recent competition in Europe.

In addition, Beau Laing, Jarrod Koppe and Mick Kirkness were all in top form at the recent Queensland title at the same venue, although the latter could be a non-starter in the Australian title after a massive highside at a recent junior ride day in Kempsey (NSW), dislocating his shoulder and fracturing his wrist.

Other classes will include clubman, junior and women, and off-track entertainment will be handled by renowned stuntman Matt Mingay on his Harley-Davidson.

The 2014 Crushtek Australian Supermoto Championship begins with practice on Friday, June 13, with racing held over the whole weekend.

For more information on the event, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/263526093851577.