TY PROCTOR overcame tough competition to win his third Victorian Speedway Solo Championship in Mildura on Saturday, December 5.
The 28-year-old from Longwarry beat the likes of Max Fricke and Jack Fallon to the A Final to take out the title. Mildura’s Brodie Waters finished in second-place and Jordan Stewart finished in third-place and as track temperatures soared to well-over 30 degrees at Olympic Park.
Ty was overjoyed at winning his third Victorian title, after winning his first in 2010 and second in 2011. “It was a good night. There was a lot of pressure on my shoulders in trying to win a visa for the UK meaning that I had to come home and make the A Final and finish in the top four,” Ty said.
“There was a lot of pressure in the heats, and I made a couple of mistakes, but I scrapped through and made the final,” he added. Ty won Heat 13, finished second in Heat 5, and earned two thirds in Heat 1 and 9 respectively.
“I’ve been injured for the last couple of seasons, as well as competing in other meetings, so I’m really happy to become a third-time Victorian champion.
Bad luck befell Victorian title favourite Justin Sedgmen after he broke a chain in the A Final and never got going.
“I got a bit lucky in the final, after what happened to Justin Sedgmen, but I felt confident enough when I dropped the clutch that I was going to make it and I’m really pumped for the Australian Speedway Solo Championships now,” Ty added.
The Australian Speedway Solo Championships takes place over four rounds with Round 1 beginning in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales on January 1-2 with the competition culminating back in Mildura on January 10.
“I haven’t been riding in Europe all season, and I’ve been working as well, so the will to win hasn’t been at a premium but racing against international riders again it’s slowly coming back to me,” Ty added.
“I want to be able to have a really good go at it. I always seem to have little issues at the Aussie titles. When I competed in the European season I would always ride well and come back in almost holiday-mode but now I really want to have a big summer,” he continued.
“I want to take it meeting by meeting, and I’m to have good results on every track. At the end of the day I would like to become an Australian champion or win a wildcard for the Speedway Grand Prix which is in Melbourne – that’s always in the back of my mind,” Ty added.
“At the end of the day all I want to do is win races again, get back in the grove, join a club back in Europe again and go forward,” Ty said.