On an extremely rough and technical Coolum circuit BCP Factory Honda Junior Development Team rider Darci Whalley continued to impress in the Ezilift MXW category finishing a strong 8-8 in the two points scoring motos after electing to turn senior just two weeks ago in her final year as a junior!
“We’ve had a good year chasing the junior races around the country and after the podium at the National Junior Titles we wanted to turn senior straight away so we could get these two rounds of Pro MX in,” said Whalley.
“The tracks are like nothing I’ve ever experienced before but it is such good practice going into the 2024 season.”
Whalley’s team mate Seth Shackleton had been looking forward to the sandy circuit of Coolum throughout the entire series, however a freak ‘start button’ malfunction on the first turn of the first practice saw a heavy hit for Shackleton sustaining a fracture to his right humerus bone!
“Unfortunately I had a first turn crash straight off the start in the first practice,” said Shackleton.
“I got on the power thinking that the start button had released but it was jammed in and the front wheel knifed in the sand. I tried my best to keep riding but I could feel my upper arm moving a bit under braking! I’m so gutted to miss this final round but we’ll let the arm heal and start working towards 2024.”
It’s a race against the clock for Shackleton as he hopes to be healed in an attempt to wrap up the MX3 WA State Championships October 7th!