A long-running motocross club’s desperate search for a new home has accelerated, as the clock ticks on its current venue.
Officials from the Suncoast Junior Motocross Club are eyeing a parcel of land south of Caloundra to build a new track, and they have started a petition to urge levels of government to get behind them.
The 22-year-old club’s long-term lease at Coolum Pines will expire after it hosts the season-ending national series event on August 19-20, and its three tracks will be torn up to make way for more businesses in the Coolum Eco Industrial Park.
Club president Matt Holliday said their sights had shifted to a privately owned parcel of land on the fringe of pine tree plantations.
“It would be perfect for us,” he said.
“It’s a block of land just sitting there … so we’re now trying to get some answers around the viability of it all.”
Mr Holliday said they had expressed their interest in the land with council and hoped to lodge a development application for it.
The 50-acre (20-hectare) block is about two acres bigger than their current venue.
But there is plenty of work to be done to make it their home.
Their priority is securing proper access to the site.
“The road in isn’t gazetted,” Mr Holliday said.
“HQ Plantations (which manages the forests) is happy for us to use their roads but wants TMR (the Department of Transport and Main Roads) to control them and look after them.”
They have contacted the department regarding access to the land.
They would also need to build a completely new facility.
“It’s just a flat block of land with an old house at the moment, so we’d have to start from scratch, with full fencing and a track and facilities,” Mr Holliday said.
“So, it’s a massive job but we’ve got to take each step as it comes.”
Mr Holliday said it was crucial that the region had a motocross facility for the 500-odd members of the club and for other recreational and competitive riders.
“You take away the track at Coolum and there’s a massive gap on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
“We need a track for the future of the sport here.”
He said the club and its current venue had been a boon for tourism and provided opportunities for riders to enjoy themselves and develop their skills.
“We’ve got two riders in America (Jett and Hunter Lawrence) who are absolutely killing it. They grew up in Landsborough and trained at Coolum,” he said.
Mr Holliday said there had been less activity at the track in recent times and the effects were showing on the motocross community.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve been regulated quite a bit by council with noise complaints and things like that, so we haven’t been able to open as much,” he said.
“The amount of illegal riding in forests and national parks has gone through the roof.”
He said the motocross community was clinging on to hope that the new location would work out.
“Everyone wants it,” he said.
“We’ve got a petition going around, to get the numbers for support.
“Without it (a track) there’s nowhere for the kids to get into the sport and to enjoy all the mateship that we’ve seen over the years.”
He said the petition, which had almost 4000 signatures, was launched to “show the government and council that we’ve got the numbers of people who want to continue with the sport”.
He said the club would need financial help from levels of government to establish a new venue.
“We’re going to need a lot of help with grants and things like that,” he said.
“It (the club) would probably be set up a bit differently too, to earn a bit more money week by week.
“Hopefully, we can get the support to get it off the ground and then we can keep building on it.”
It was estimated a new venue would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up.
Mr Holliday said time was of the essence.
“We’ve got to start clearing out where we are, so it would have been good to have at least a lease signed and a lot of approvals done by the end of the year so we can transfer all our stuff there,” he said.
“But it’s hard to predict the process, with departments. We’ve reached out to mayors and politicians, but it’s a slow process.
“All we can do is do our best.
“We need a new track, so we’re not going to stop until we can get something.
“At the moment, this block of land (south of Caloundra) is pretty much our only option.”
Mr Holliday said the final event at the current track would be an emotional occasion.
The club has been there for 15 years.
“It’s our biggest event of the year,” he said of the ProMX Series finale, which has been held there for more than a decade.
“It’s always big because of the location and the timing. Everyone lets their hair down at the end of it and stays for a week or so on the beach.
“But it will be especially big this year, as it will be our last one ever.
“We are inviting all the past champions to be here, and they could do a lap of honour.”
