Cycling Australia

National Junior Track Series

More than sixty interstate riders will cross the Nullarbor for round four of the National Junior Track Series to be held on Saturday in Perth.

And with each of the respective age group leaders all racing what is the penultimate leg of the five round series, the contest is expected to be fierce on the SpeedDome track.

St George Cycling Club's Lara Batkin leadins the junior 17 women's by 28 points, with Tasmania's Lauren Perry looking to gain more ground on her rival after debuting in the series at the previous round, claiming the maximum 51 points.

Ruby Roseman-Gannon from the Brunswick Club has all but stitched up the under fifteen female category, but the interest centres on her racing against a strong contingent of Western Australian riders. It will be the first time the West Australian will race in the competition and they'll be out to show their strength.

In the junior men's categories, both Cam Scott (Wagga Wagga) and Jack Edwards (Great Sydney) have comfortable leads in the 15 and 17 age groups respectively and looking forward to testing themselves in the west against some unknown talent.

All eyes will be on the team's standing with with only five points separating leader Greater Sydney and the Brunswick Cycling Club.

In all, just over 100 riders will be racing in Perth, with 230 juniors having sampled the National Junior Track Series across the first three rounds held in Sydney, Melbourne and Launceston.

The inaugural series, which saw great racing in round one and two at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome and Melbourne's DISC velodrome respectively in October, is a club based competition for under 15 and under 17 year old cyclists. 

It aims to aid the transition to elite racing and support the future of track cycling within Australia. It's hoped it will also underpin the growth of Cycling Australia's high performance talent base.

Presented by the Santos Tour Down Under, the NJTS is also supported by Jayco and Shimano, with the GreenEDGE cycling team also backing the project and features five rounds staged at major indoor velodromes around Australia, with Adelaide's Super-Drome to stage the final event on January 17.