James Murphy
IT has been a full throttle sort of year for one Limestone Coast motocross rider.
Naracoorte’s Max Midwinter has kept himself busy competing in three separate championships throughout 2023.
He raced in the South Australian, Victorian and Australian National series with some impressive results.
Midwinter came out on top in both the SA and Vic titles, winning the Experts and Under 18 A Grade classes respectively for the two events.
In addition he also finished fifth overall in the Under 19 Australian Championship.
It has been nothing short of an impressive season for the 18 year old and he hopes to further his success next year.
Committing to every round of the three championships was no small task, with Max and his father Mark covering plenty of ground off the track.
“We did a fair bit of travelling this year,” Midwinter said.
“We probably did over 200 hours worth of driving.”
In all, Midwinter raced in 28 rounds throughout 2023, aboard his KTM 350 EXC.
“The SA only had four rounds this year, the Victorian one had 12 and the Aussies also have 12 rounds,” he said.
“We competed in all of those rounds.
“For the Vics I was in the Under 18 A Grade and I was in Experts for SA.”
Next year he will step up in class, testing his skills in the Pro category for both the South Australian and Victorian Championships.
Additionally he will be moving up to a bike capacity class in the National Championship due to being too old for Under 19’s.
As his busiest year in the sport to date, Midwinter has plenty of positives to take from it.
“This year we decided just to have a go at everything and see what we could achieve,” he said.
“The last couple of years we have only competed in most of the SA’s and a few of the Vic rounds.
“Since a couple of the Aussie rounds were close by, we thought why not have a go?
“It ended up pretty well and I had a good season.”
Midwinter has raced since he was about 12 years old – and been riding since he was four – so he is no stranger to two wheels.
However, he admits he has far to go and is still only learning the ropes on the national stage.
“Greeny (Anthony Green) from Ride Tune Suspension is definitely the main one who has helped me a lot at some of the events,” he said.
“He has been giving me tips and how to keep fit and all that sort of stuff.”
He also gave thanks to Blue City Motorcycles, who have looked after his bike needs throughout the process.
As far as aspirations go, Midwinter hoped to one day work his way up the Australian rankings.
“I still have a bit to work on, but I would like to get some good results in the Aussie’s,” he said.
“If I could get in the top 10 or 20 that would be a good goal for the future.”
