Wauchope’s Billy Hargy is on cloud nine after taking out the championship for the J2 Australian Off-Road series on October 7, in Victoria.
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The 12-year-old has been on a bike since the age of two, and has been racing since aged four, but in his debut year competing in the 12-15 year old category, took the crown from riders three years his senior.
Dad, Daniel Hargy said he could not be more proud of his son’s achievement.
“It has been a long time coming this year because Billy has been competing for 11 rounds, but for him to win the category in his first year is quite an achievement,” Mr Hargy said.
“When we competed in Broken Hill we had some bike issues but Billy made up for it taking out round eight and round nine in South Australia.
“Two weeks later when we were in Victoria for the final two rounds, Billy started off slow only getting fourth which was hard.
“That night we regrouped and on the Sunday we came out of the blocks and smashed the competition taking out the six races that day and the overall championship.”
Mr Hargy said it had been a bit of a wild ride, with Billy leading the competition for most of the year, but in the end it was worth it.
“Over the course of the season Billy secured nine out of 11 podium finishes which is incredible in his first year at this level,” he said.
“Billy himself is pretty humble about everything but we are stoked at what he has been able to do.
“Now the goal is to follow it up next year by going back-to-back.
“Billy’s goal is to do this for a living at the end of the day and we have three more years in this age group to get him to the best place we can so when he hits seniors at 16 he can continue.
“And we are going to do everything we can but it is really Billy pushing it. We are on the bike every weekend as well as once during the week but off the bike Billy is really focused on his personal fitness doing training after school as well.”
But Mr Hargy said all that Billy has achieved could not be possible without the support of the community.
“For him to win we have traveled more than 12,500kms around Australia competing and we are just so thankful for everything the community has done to support Billy.
“Billy could not do it on his own and we just want to give a huge shout out to the community, his sponsors and trainer for getting him where he is today.”