10/10/2025
An article about the upcoming the 2025 Queensland Speedway Titles! 🏁🔥sponsored by JRS Motorcycle & Suspension Specialists
📍 Pioneer Park Speedway, Ayr
📅 Saturday, November 8th | ⏰ 6:30PM
Article by Martin Rodgers, former successful British league promoter, journalist and speedway enthusiast.
MULTIPLE solo world champions Ivan Mauger, Jack Young and, more recently, Jason Crump all sit proudly on the roll of honour which tells everything about the historical significance of the Queensland titles.
Mauger, from New Zealand, and Young (South Australia) are among a list of highly credentialled interlopers who have taken the prize, along with the likes of Jim Airey and AubLawson (NSW), and Scotland’s Ken McKinlay.
But none can match the record of returning eight-time champion Josh Grajczonek, who topped the podium a couple of years ago when the championships were last staged here at Pioneer Park … the scheduled 2024 staging at North Brisbane fell victim to bad weather and couldn’t be restaged.
In Darcy Ward, the former world Under-21 dual champion and Grand Prix sensation who was invalided out of the sport, the event has a young, hard-charging promoter determined to build on a current splurge of interest and high performance from Aussies on the world stage.
His past association with Grajczonek, who raced professionally in the UK for a decade, has helped facilitate the appearance of a now 35-year-old who has put off-track business ahead of racing for several years, yet regularly and routinely pops up to shine against all comers in home territory.
Starting in 2008, with five of his titles achieved at Ayr, the genial Josh has built a body of winning work which surpasses even Sunshine State high rollers John Titman (seven), Troy Butler (six), Crump (five) who have been dominant in their respective golden years.
For many years after the war Brisbane’s Ekka was the regular staging choice before the event set out on a tour of all corners of the state, although Pioneer Park, with a dozen such events, has been a popular stopping-off point.
History, of course, has a habit of rewriting itself and 2025 could well be the time for members of the emerging generation next to write their name on the board. With the inspiring example of four Aussies in the world championship elite, the recent memory of victory in the Speedway of Nations, there’s inspiration and role models aplenty for kids such as Grandchester’s Tate Zischke, home from a European campaign in which he donned the famous Belle Vue breastplate.
Zischke owes much of his impressive development to the experienced gained under Darcy Ward’s tutelage, and similarly, Zaine and Declan Kennedy, Jacob Hook and Kye Thomson all put in plenty of laps at North Brisbane before plying their trade in the UK.
Look out too for Jordy Loftus, a 16-year-old from the Gold Coast who ventured over a few months ago and landed himself a spot in the Edinburgh Monarchs line-up … a familiar destination for many Australians down the years, none more distinguished than Jack Young, the first back-to-back world champion.
There will be fast-paced action in the 250 and 125 classes too, not to mention a sidecar shootout which brings together North Queensland’s top four crews: Tyler Moon and Adam Lovell, Brodie Cohen and Josh Maury, Hagan Campbell and Riley Campbell, and Hamish Golding and Brett Lovell.
