Hawkesbury Independent IND 169 June 2024 | Page 34

Brayden Shute tearing up the track

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Watching speedway sprint cars and fender benders trading paint is a good sport ! When I chatted to Brayden Shute after completing his first season in wingless sprint car racing , he told me his aim was to race with the big boys in sprint car racing .
It ’ s a huge ambition for a young guy , even if he was born into the world of motor sport , particularly on the dirt track laying the groundwork for the foundations of his career . He received the Rising Star award for 2023 and realised now other drivers have seen him in action , year two would be tougher .
He managed to pull off a couple of feature race victories at Eastern Creek Speedway , a career highlight at this stage in a burgeoning career in the tough world
Brayden in action . Credit : Shute Racing . of dirt track racing against some of the best racers in Australia .
I managed to catch up with Brayden at the Hawkesbury Show when he was talked about the season that he had and how competitive it was racing out in the regional areas against the country boys . They are the home track experts with some incredibly strong drivers who made the competition fierce , but they were always hospitable at the end of the day .
His support crew is massive with his family hitting the road for the road trip . His sisters Sam and Amy are two of his biggest supporters , and dad Rod told me that once you start racing , it ’ s in your blood .
You can see the glint in Brayden ’ s eyes when you chat to him . It excites him to be able to get in the car and tear it up with the best in NSW . This year for the first time at the ripe old age of 18 , he headed to the big dance in Lismore , the 2024 AWSR Australian Wingless Sprint Championship at Castrol Lismore Speedway .
He was destined to go last season but had a big rollover in his last event prior to the nationals which knocked him around leaving him unable to compete .
He did have form at the Lismore Raceway too picking up a secondplace finish in a 50 lapper which is
Brayden preparing for nationals . Credi : Shute Racing .
one of his highlights . This lit the spark in him to achieve bigger and better results in the nationals .
Unfortunately , at nationals , the first night was a bit up and down and it was not to be for the young Londonderry lad who epitomises the Ricky Bobby saying , “ I wanna go fast ” off Talladega Nights .
Car troubles dampened what promised to be an exciting event , but this is all a learning experience for Brayden who said that the pathway to the top normally takes at least five years .
He is young with bucket loads of potential , and experienced people around him help keep the dream real , the goals clear and keep Brayden on track .
Brayden is hoping for a big 2025 and is really grateful to his fabulous sponsors Hobbs Trench and Boring , Pinnacle Graphics , and Eveleigh Family N27 , who all help keep him on the track and compete with the best in the division .
Brayden is an ambitious young guy with plenty of talent to boot and it ’ s only a matter of time until he gets to reach his dream of racing sprint cars and making it to the pro circuit in America .

The Hanckels making waves in barefoot water skiing

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
If you live in the Hawkesbury , chances are that you have been out on the river doing some sort of activity such as fishing , boating and skiing - maybe even barefoot water skiing . Let me tell you a story about two local rising talents .
Oakville residents Archie and Gerry Hanckel are two of the brightest young talents in barefoot waterskiing in Australia . The very well-spoken young locals were happy to talk about their outstanding achievements . The boys have been skiing pretty much their whole lives and got into through their parents who are both barefoot skiers .
The boys are part of the NSW Barefoot Club who host several come and try days . Archie is 11 and got into barefoot skiing at five and Gerry is 16 and started skiing at three-years-old . He progressed from two skis to one with jumps and stunts and has now moved into barefoot skiing . Optimal competition conditions are smooth water like glass .
Gerry out on the water carving it up .
There are 150 people in the NSW Barefoot Club . There are three different disciplines , jumps , tricks and slalom , and through the slalom they try to see how many crosses you can do in a set distance . The tricks are a whole range of events that you can do in a 15-second time period down and back .
The slalom events are the same and the points accumulate in the competition . There are different ages including sub juniors up to u14s , juniors up to u17s , u23s and then open class .
The boys competed in the world championships in Mulwala in Victoria in February 2023 , where competed against people from Europe and America . In October they will be going to Florida .
You have to qualify for the world championships with three age groups u17s , u23s and open men ’ s . The qualifying scores are taken from the average scores at a tournament with officials . The boys are excellent , and Archie came second in the sub junior boys , and Gerry picked up first place in the u17s national championships which go all the way back to 1965 .
When they travel to national and international competition , they use competition boats and have different classified drivers who drive the boats for all competitors which helps level the competition . Gerry said the best in junior boys in the world is Noah Kinnaman and he is hoping to be able to take it up to him and beat him with his jump skills .
When they train off water , they do
Archie showboating .
dry lander training which uses a pully to give you tension . They also do a lot of gym training . Gerry has put together a highlights reel of some of his big stacks on Instagram , and when you get up over 75km you can really feel it in the boat .
The best jumps guy in Australia is TJ Russo who has jumped 27m . The world record is 29.9m which was in London at the world championships in 2012 , but no one has even gone close to this since the
record was set .
The boys get up to 2000 – 3000 people watching the big jump events . Archie ’ s aim is to become number one in Australia in his age group in the next 12 months and he just wants to get better and better . Gerry is hoping to be top three in the world championships and is expecting to fight for the world title .
The world is truly at their feet in barefoot skiing .
32 ISSUE 169 // JUNE 2024 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT