Fast and furious: 2026 Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship set for Wodonga stunner

Get set for more weaving and ducking than the eye can see when the 2026 Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship is held at the excellent Diamond Park complex in Wodonga on March 7-8.

With such a hyper, fast-twitch tempo, race victories will be well-earned and nerves jangling as the best junior dirt track riders get down to business in the Albury-Wodonga Motorcycle Club-promoted event.

Such is the intensity of junior dirt track competition, the discipline continues to be a brilliant foundation to build race craft and competitive instincts – as the huge list of riders who have gone on to forge successful careers in the senior ranks will attest to.

This weekend, the latest chapter of the Australian Junior Dirt Track Championship will see 100 riders and 178 motorcycles from all parts of the country take to the 610-metre granite-based track as champions are crowned in championship classes ranging from 50cc auto to upper-age juniors on 250cc four-strokes. There will also be a 50cc demo class.

With only one rider in defence mode (Queenslander Kru Tulloch in 65cc two-stroke 9-U13), the championship will provide plenty of opportunities for new aspirants to make their mark – including recent champions moving into higher-age divisions such as Cooper Quinn (NSW), Kaiden Lantry (NSW), Hugo Holmes (NSW), Cohen McCosker (NSW) and Hayden Duggan (NSW), as well as recent podium finishers such as Preston Craft (NSW), Bodie Cardinale (NSW), Ryder Smith (Qld), Flynn Beard (NSW), Jye French (NSW), Braxsen Anderson (NSW), Hudson McConnell (NSW), Oscar Borella (NSW), Mia Blackford (Qld), Tommy Wright (Vic), Mason Wild (NSW) and Zak Salmon (Vic).

In terms of raw numbers, the two biggest classes will be 85cc two-stroke/150cc four-stroke 9-U13 and 250cc four-stroke 13-U16 with 26 and 23 entries respectively. In the former, Andersen will want to make the ultimate statement after finishing second in 2025, but the challengers will be coming thick and fast thanks to riders like French, Tulloch, Beard, Quinn, Salmon and McConnell.

The 250cc battle will also be extraordinarily tight as well, with Cardinale, Wright, Holmes, Craft and Duggan trying to find cracks in each other’s composure across the weekend. Again, it will all come down to the finest of margins.

On-track action will start from about 9:30am on both days, with entry $10 per person. Diamond Park, located on the Lincoln Causeway in Wodonga, has full on-site canteen facilities.