Sunday 3 April 1983

Australian 1983 BMX Titles

The weekend of April 2-3 1983 was the Australian BMX titles that Paul and Craig contested in.

The titles were held at the Ashmore track which was near the Gold Coast in Queensland.

The family drove down in the blue van and made a holiday of the trip although it was hopeful that Paul might have some success at this higher level as he was the current number 1 plate holder for the NT in his age bracket.

He did hurt his knee before the tournament but after a visit to the doctors it all seemed good.

Unfortunately Paul decided to change his gearing to a lighter one that he had never used - just to fit in with everyone else!  We'll never know if this made a difference but when he changed back to his normal heavier gearing for his last heat he won it.  In all the previous heats he or Craig didn't have much success and therefore unfortunately didn't make it into the final rounds.
 
The ABC kids show "Wombat" actually covered the event and at the end of the show during the credits showed Paul's complete heat with him leading the whole way.  Paul contacted ABC archives in 2013 hoping to get the footage but they said it wasn't available.