Hunter riders Rohan Tungate, Sam Masters, Josh Pickering and Jye Etheridge have been named in a star-studded field for 2020 Australian Speedway Solo Championship.
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The Hunter contingent is part of a 16-rider field which will contest the five-leg championship series starting at Kurri Kurri Speedway on Saturday, January 4.
Motorcycling Australia has chosen to select the 16 starters rather than to have a qualifying night at Kurri Kurri.
There are five current or former Australian champions in the line-up including Pelaw Main's Tungate (2018) and Newcastle's Masters (2017).
They are joined by reigning Australian title holder Max Fricke from Victoria, former world champion and five-time Australian champion Chris Holder and 2016 winner Brady Kurtz from Cowra.
Tungate said winning an Australian series was always tough as you needed to stay fit as well as be consistent.
"I missed the NSW title because my engine hadn't arrived from Poland, but I'm fit and will be able to get back on the bike on Boxing Day ahead of the series," he said.
"It's going to be a really hard-fought series. It's wide open."
Pickering, from Heddon-Greta, and Buttai's Etheridge are coming off excellent performances at last weekend's NSW titles where Pickering was third and Etheridge made the B-final.
Pickering said he had learned a lot from Saturday's event and would use that in preparing himself and his bike for the Australian titles.
The NSW championship winner Jack Holder and fourth-placed Zack Cook, who has just signed with Somerset Rebels in the UK, have also been named in the Australian title field,
It's going to be a really hard-fought series. It's wide open.
- Rohan Tungate
"In the Aussie titles it is a full 16 who can win at anytime with probably more than half the field competing over in England and the UK," Holder said after defending his NSW title.
All four Hunter riders competed professionally in speedway leagues in 2019 in Britain and Europe.
They are expected to be in action at Boxing Day's annual Jason Crump Invitational.
Fricke, who competed in this year's World Grand Prix series alongside Newcastle's Jason Doyle, poses the biggest threat to the NSW contingent.
A former Under-21 world (2017) and four-time Under-21 Australian (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017) champion, Fricke won the 2019 series with a second-placed finishe behind Tungate at Kurri Kurri.
The Victorian riders also include Justin Sedgemen, Jaimon Lidsey, Jack Morrison and Jordan Stewart. They are joined by Queensland's Ryan Douglas and Zaine Keleher and South Australia's Rob Medson.
Championship calendar:
- Round 1 - Kurri Kurri - Saturday, January 4
- Round 2 - Albury/Wodonga - Monday, January 6
- Round 3 - Undera (VIC) - Tuesday, January 7
- Round 4 - Mildura (VIC) - Thursday, January 9
- Round 5 - Gillman (SA) - Saturday, January 11