THE winner of the 2016 Troy Bayliss Classic was ... the weather.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Losers were the big crowd of spectators who had gathered to witness the fourth staging of an event that is attracting increasing interest worldwide.
Five showers through the day and early evening proved a few too many and ultimately ruled racing out on the oiled track.
The first two showers were overcome with only a minimal delay in staging the first 42 races, just seven from finalising the afternoon program.
Track staff, and plenty of laps from the ATV competitors had almost had the track ready or racing after the third shower, when the skies opened again.
Continuing efforts in between showers all proved futile with the organisers ultimately left with no option but to abandon the remainder of the program, which means there will be no name inscribed on the honour roll for either the classic or the Americana in 2016.
In making the final call Troy Bayliss praised the crowd for their patience as efforts were ongoing to try to get the program finished.
Fans who arrived early did get to see all the programmed riders.
Even with five American riders in the All Stars line it was Australia's undisputed star of dirt track racing in 2015, Luke Richards, who outpointed his rivals over the three rounds, claiming two wins and a second placings.
Michael Kirkness and Troy Bayliss also bettered the rest of the All Stars, with the best of the Americans being first time visitor Jake Johnson.
There was an ominous sign however as last year's classic winner Jared Mees and previous Americana winner Sammy Halbert both lifted their game with polished wins in their third round heat.
The intensity of the racing brought about some casualties as American star Brad Baker and Japanese rider Masatoshi Ohmori tangled, and they were destined to miss the rest of the meeting, along with Broc Parkes who came off worst in another mishap.
Another first time visitor to Australia took the honours in a hard fought Legends class. Four times world long track champion Joonas Kylmakorpi overcame poor starts and on his way to the overall victory he pulled off several stunning overtakes of Jason Crump and Darren Herrick.
Kylmakorpi also had the honour of the fastest lap time, ahead of all the All Stars riders.
Even with more Australian dirt trackers than before in the All Stars line-up, there was still a classy field for the Pro 450 class, which was to find the last qualifiers for both the Americana and the super pole shootout.
With the final not held because of the rain honours were declared after the three rounds with Carew Dickinson edging former Australian champions Jace Castles and Luke Gough.
Michael Kirkness won both rounds of the 500cc 2-stroke class ahead of Ken Bisley and Jarryd Oram.
For the third year in a row Tayla Jones won an ultra-competitive women's class, with just one point separating the top four riders. Keegan Pickering, Briony Hendrickson and Iilish Ross were the others in contention.
Like Jones, ATV rider Mathew Griffiths made it a hat-trick of victories at this meeting by outpointing Robert Booth and Mel Brandle.
The future of the sport looks to be in good hands judging by the action in the three junior support classes.
Jacob Roulstone won each round of the 7-U/10s beating Lincoln Von Mengersen and Cameron Dunker overall.
The other classes were declared on heat results with the finals not held.
Oli Bayliss, son of Troy, took out the 10-U/13s from Cyshan Weale and Kruze Brady, while Broc Pearson overcame Max Whale and James Chapman in the 13-U/16s.