World speedway championships a learning curve for Greenhill's Sonny Spurgin

The 11-year-old received the invitation to compete on the world stage after he impressed the speedway selectors in the Australian Speedway under-16s 125cc individual and teams championships in April last year.

Sonny and his dad Tim flew out to Denmark on June 24 with the intention of giving the young rider some time to train before the event took place on July 8. However, Tim said it didn't all go according to plan.

"Things were a little bit hampered over there as we had two weeks of bad weather," he said. "We didn't have the amount of practice that we were anticipating when we arrived."

Prior to leaving Australia, Tim organised a new bike for Sonny to ride on to meet the requirements of the competition.

"The new bike was pretty good when we got there, but we had to tidy it up a bit in the first two days," Tim said. "As soon as we had that fixed up, we had a training session scheduled that afternoon where we did six laps before the rain came in."

Tim said the following week was a similar affair.

"We were doing everything we could to get some training in, but it fell through," he said. "So, we missed out big time with our preparation."

Despite the limited training, Tim said Sonny was revved up and ready to compete in the world championship.

"Even though we had minimal preparation, he was still ready to go," he said. "Nothing really phased him, he just wanted to go out there and ride."

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Sonny who faced a mechanical issue at the start of the race.

"We had a slight mechanical issue that we weren't quite aware of due to the limited practice on the bike that we had.

"Once we rolled into the meeting, we noticed the mechanical issue which impacted us substantially at the start because they need to really jump out at the start and that's when the issue reared its head."

Sonny placed 14^th overall in the championships as the mechanical issue continued to hinder his performance.

"He was a little bit disappointed in himself, 14th overall didn't quite do us justice," Tim said. "We were top ten easy on that day, but our lack of preparation kind of brought us undone on the day.

Tim said Sonny took some confidence out of his last race where he came second.

"One of the kids that he raced against ended up being the one that won the championship, and Sonny came second to him in the last race," he said.

"That race was a blessing in disguise because to ride second to that kid who went on to win the championship showed us where we need to be.

"To be right there with him in that last ride just goes to show where we would've actually been in the whole meeting if the bike was working properly.

"At the end of the day, he's coming home 14th in the world and there's not too many kids who can make that claim."

Tim said Sonny took a lot of lessons out of the event as the competition further cemented his passion for speedway racing.

"It was amazing for him to race against these riders, and it just showed us how much harder we have to train back at home," he said.

"The short amount of practice that he got and the things that he learnt at the championship, I can already see what it's done to him.

"He's learnt so much more at the start line, and in terms of getting himself aggressive during the race and even the craftsmanship that you need to take on the competitors.

"Back home, he's almost at the top of the tree as a speedway rider, but going over there and racing against those guys showed us that we've got to lift the bar a fair bit more to mix it with the best.

"To go over and taste the world championships has made him hungrier to have that opportunity again. We want to be going back every year now."

Sonny will now be gearing up for the Australian Titles that will be held in Tamworth in November

"That's our target," Tim said.

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