Fun the focus as Aussies win Mighty 11s and Test Team BMX Races against New Zealand

Australia has swept the opening leg of the 2023 Mighty 11s Memorial and Test Team races at the National Series event at Macarthur BMX last weekend.

Aussie riders claimed first and second place in both the Boys and Girls categories of the Test Team finals, while Kai Field (Terrigal Avoca) edged out New Zealand’s Rico Ryan by just over 0.03 seconds to win the Mighty 11s final, with Australian Brody Willmott taking bronze on his home track.

The Test Team format is unique in BMX racing. Rather than racing for individual success, the fastest four age-eligible riders from Australia and New Zealand are pitted against one another, with points accumulated by each rider over the weekend contributing to their overall team’s success.

Australia’s results are also impressive given riders only have a small window of preparation together before racing, and as Australian team manager Brendan Bradshaw explained, the format requires a level of teamwork and communication that is unfamiliar to the riders.

“We do spend a lot of time explaining that to the guys, saying, ‘you may not come first. It may not be what your job is. Maybe your job is to come sixth, because we want you to just kind of block out that faster rider’,” Bradshaw said.

“So, we spent a lot of time working out who's got the fastest gate, who's got the best first corner, who’s fast down the third straight, who's really good at positioning, who’s the stronger rider, and then that sets our strategic plan of how we set the riders up with the gates.

“I think it was the last race we had for the Test Team, we had gate choice one, two, three, and four. So, we set up our fastest rider on gate four just to run straight and hold out the Kiwis and stay wide. That gives our inside three the chance to run away with the race.”

Australia's Dusty Schroder (#1 plate) and Ivy Gilbert (#2 plate) (Photo: Aussie Gil Media)

Another key difference is the rider’s ability to communicate with their teammates on track, something not allowed in conventional BMX racing.

“For the Mighty 11s event, it’s hey guys, you know when you're on the track and it's that first corner, ‘Aussie on the inside’, or you know, ‘Kiwi on the inside.’ That tells the rider in front that you’ve got to move over and shut that person down, because then that gives the other three riders a chance to come around the outside,” Bradshaw said.

While the rivalry is clearly competitive, Bradshaw added that he and coach Gemma-lee Thomas (Castle Hill) make a point of keeping the fun element of racing front and centre throughout the weekend.

“Look, for me, number one is, it’s all about fun. BMX is a fun sport. I mean, these kids are having the opportunity to represent their country, which is pretty serious, and they do take it very seriously. But the whole week is fun.

“We do have that time with the Kiwi team to kind of detach ourselves away from the track, where we do have that fun activity stuff. We have the big Mighty 11s dinner, where we had 90 guests in total with guest speaker Kai Sakakibara. So, we do create a fun atmosphere within that, and Gemma and I really do focus as much as we can on having fun.”

Australia's Kai Field (#4 plate) leads down the first straight. (Photo: Michramm Industries)

The teams also mingled together ten-pin bowling and rock climbing, and one of Australia’s top riders in the Boys team Kai Field (Terrigal Avoca) reflected on how enjoyable the overall experience was.

“It was really fun. I loved just the fact that we were racing as a team against a different country, and we were all helping each other. It was just very good,” Field said.

“Gemma saw that my strength was on the gate, and she helped all of us improve on the rhythm straights and just getting close to each other. And Brendan, he was good too with that. I would like to thank Gemma and Brendan for all their help. They were very good, and we wouldn't have been able to win without them.”

Sydney BMX rider Ivy Gilbert was another standout for Australia. Not only did she perform exceptionally well in the Test Team rounds for the Girls, but she was the only female to make the Mighty 11 memorial final.

“I enjoyed it all because it's such a really individual sport; you never really get to have team communication – it’s more just you work for yourself. So, it was good to experience team riding,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert’s performance was especially impressive given she crashed a number of times over the weekend.

“I just didn't really want to let my team down,” Gilbert said. “Because we were still trying to gain back points and I didn't want to bail on them. I just said to myself that I need to get up and keep going just for the team.”

Test Team qualification for the return leg in New Zealand will take place at the Lake Macquarie State Series round on 3 September in New South Wales.

Test Team and Mighty 11 results

Mighty 11s History

Main image: Aussie Gil Media