Australasian Dirt Bike — January 2018

http://www.adbmag.com.au JANUARY 2018 | 31

Australia now has six speedway world

champions, with SA, Vic and NSW

sharing the spoils. NSW has four (Lionel

Van Praag, Arthur ‘Bluey’ Wilkinson,

Chris Holder and this year’s Jason

Doyle). Victoria is next, with Jason

Crump winning three titles (although

that state’s tally is subject do debate

as Crumpy was born in the UK) and

South Australia has scored two with

Jack Young.

By the

Numbers

20,000

Crowd at Speedway GP in Melbourne

8

The number of Speedway World

Championships won by Aussies

1

Months until Dakar

18

Years since KTM didn’t win Dakar

805,000

Chad Reed’s Instagram followers

283

Starters in the fi rst Australian

Safari in 1985

Did you

know?

BEAUT UTE

WHEN KATE NORMAN is not working as a vet,
she is usually tearing up the tracks and trails as
an enduro racer. But it turns out she has a thing
for utes as well, recently making the trip to
Deniliquin for the Deni Ute Muster. The annual
gathering in the Riverina region of NSW hands
out all sorts of awards for the best utes in the
Show ’N’ Shine competition and Kate managed
to nab one. She took the trophy for the Best
Chicks Ute [political correctness is obviously
not a problem in Deni] with her Toyota
Landcruiser 79 Series. Of course, the ute was
complete with her racked-up Sherco racer. Kate
features in an in-depth interview this issue,
which features another Toyota ute, and tells us
she’s racked up more than 50,000km this year.
In 2016 she cleaned up a kangaroo on the way
to the fi rst AORC round at Kilkivan and had to
perform the last rites.

SHOW ME THE MONEY

CHAD REED HAS split from his long-time agent,
Steve Astephen, one of the movers and shakers at
the Wasserman Media Group. According to his
Instagram post, Reed worked with Astephen for 11
years. Although the exact circumstances
surrounding the split are unclear, Reed’s praise for
Astephen suggests it was amicable. Astephen was
one of the fi rst major action-sports agents and has
helped revolutionise the industry. He originally
worked in snowboard retail before starting his own
sports agency, The Familie, in 1998. That company
was purchased by WMG and Astephen took up a
role with it, helping to create some of the biggest
names in action sports such as Dave Mirra, Ryan
Sheckler, Carey Hart and Bruce and Andy Irons.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Many people are

afraid of goats, but

remember folks, goats

act hostile because

they are way more

scared of you.”

Ronnie Mac getting all Steve Irwin

when talking about his Aussie battle

with the G.O.A.T, Ricky Carmichael.