By Aiden Cale
Round 3 of the UniSA Australian HPV Super Series will host a Festival of Pedal Prix weekend at Adelaide’s Victoria Park this weekend, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 of June. Community teams will take to the track on the Saturday and schools on Sunday, both races taking place for 6 hours in duration.
The former three day event has returned back to a two day event format, with the longer 1.35km circuit at Victoria Park being reinstated as a result of the covid testing centre having been removed. The longer circuit variant at Victoria Park has not been a part of the UniSA Australian HPV Super Series calendar since 2019, meaning the circuit will be new to a great deal of riders competing.
The Saturday race will see title contenders Wattle Racing and Platt Racing duking it out once again for top honours on race day, with both teams currently tied on 299 points for the Australian Championship. Wattle Racing claimed the overall victory in Tailem Bend, coming out on top over Platt Racing by 2 laps. Trump Trikes Factory Racing will also be contenders for the victory after seeing return to form in Tailem Bend and managing to clinch the last position on the podium. Elliptical Racing are also off to a successful start to their 2023 campaign, as the team, comprised of riders with both youth and experience, claimed a shock result of 6th overall last time out in their customer run Trump Trikes.
The Sunday race will be headlined by the fastest schools in the country, with Pembroke School being in and amongst the top community teams, claiming 5th overall, with a healthy margin of 5 laps to Norwood International High School at Tailem Bend after trike problems early on affected their race. Norwood’s all-female team have shown they mean business, as they continued on from their 2022 season success, with 14 laps being the difference to second placed Unity College in S3 Female.
With 200+ trikes taking place over the two day event, the Victoria Park parklands will be thriving to the sound of human powered vehicles all weekend long on. Saturday’s racing commences at 9:30am, and Sunday’s start is scheduled for 10:00am.
