Struggling to find a suitable venue to hold events for dirt bike enthusiasts for the last decade, local businessman Andy Divall has very generously stepped up and donated a small piece of land on Rampion Hills Road, 15kms north of Goulburn on the Hume Highway, to the local club for the weekend on September 17 and 18.

‘Amcross’ is an abbreviation for amateur motocross, a series that kicked off in the year 2000 for dirt bike riders that were looking for a little more than ‘club’ level competition, but didn’t want the expense of chasing the national championships around Australia.

It is a completely natural terrain grass track motocross; there is nothing manmade like jumps or beams. A course is usually mapped out on an empty parcel of privately owned land several weeks before leading up to an event and then defined with flexible plastic track markers and coloured tape. The bikes then form their own bumps, ruts and various obstacles, as the track wears in over the duration of the weekends racing.

A licensing rule for competition is that there is to be nothing manmade but utilising gullies and hills is recommended. The series is only open to amateurs, professional riders are not permitted to enter and there is no prize money on offer, just trophies for the highest place getters in each class of the series.

This helps to keep the series cost effective and fairly casual which encourages a friendly atmosphere and generally leads to a weekend full of enjoyable racing for riders of any age, skill level or bike capacity.

The style of event is very similar to that of the ‘Thumper Nationals’ four stroke motorcross series that ran successfully during the 90s in all eastern states of Australia. For 2011 the Amcross series is being held over six rounds, and started in Cooma in March, concluding in Goulburn in September.

All rounds are held in the southern part of NSW. As soon as the event has concluded on the Sunday evening the area will be completely cleaned up. The land will then be ploughed and re-sown and put under crop by the landowner so that within weeks it will be almost impossible to see that approximately 500 riders had even visited the area at all.

The racing on Saturday, September 17 is for juniors and parents. Children between the ages of seven and 15 are welcome to enter and a special ‘parents’ class is also catered for and runs over three rounds of racing in conjunction with the kids on this day.

About 250 riders are expected to roll up and will be greeted with a brand new circuit that has never been ridden before. Sunday, September 18 is a day totally devoted to senior competitors with in excess of 200 people over 16-years-of-age being catered for with all classes being divided into age groups or skill level.

Age is certainly no barrier as local man, Con Toparis, has been consistently running at the front of the pack in the over 45s clubman class and holds a slim points lead in the series with two rounds still remaining. Women are also included and have their own class, also being run over three rounds on the day with 20 girls entering each round so far in 2011.

With ‘one day’ licences and club membership on offer for this meeting, it will surely prove to be a low cost way to go racing for any newcomers to the local event. Goulburn Motor Cycle Club is hoping that there will be plenty of local spectators at the event as this is the first time that the club has been able to secure a venue to stage the one weekend a year spectacle.

For anybody interested in coming along to compete or even watch, you can either visit any local motorcycle dealer or hop on the internet and check out amcross.com.au, then just follow the links to www.goulburnmcc.com.au where you can download the appropriate entry forms and supplementary regulations required for pre-entry.

However, five hours of coaching is required for children under 16 if entering a race for the first time which is not a problem as the Goulburn Motorcycle Club currently has two active riding coaches who are always willing to pass on their knowledge and make sure the kids are competent and safe operators before entering a competitive environment.

Any interested parties can also email goulburnmcc@gmail.com for further information if required. A massive thank you must go out to the entire Divall family for their enormous generosity and backing the local club along with the support that Councillor Margaret O’Neill and several other members of the Goulburn Mulwaree Council have shown.

Because of a small group of hard working dirt bikers, this meeting is certain to be a huge success and help put the Goulburn Motorcycle Club back on the map. For the first time in many years it should be safe to say that motorcycle competition is again alive and well in Goulburn. What better way for the oldest motorcycle club in Australia to celebrate its 100th birthday.