Max Fricke (born 29 March 1996) is an Australian

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

rider. He is a World team champion, twice Australian champion and four times Australian Under-21 Champion.

Career

Juniors

Fricke competed in junior levels of motocross and speedway in Australia, competed in the 2011 and 2012 FIM Youth Gold Cup tournaments, and finished in fourth place in the Australian Under-16 125cc Championship and second in the 125cc Team Championship in January 2012.Perfect Kurtz claims second Australian Under 16 125cc Solo Speedway Championship
, fullnoise.com.au, 13 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013Kurtz and Holder lead NSW to 2012 Aust Under 16 125cc Teams Speedway Championship
, fullnoise.com.au, 16 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013

Seniors

Fricke moved up to senior level in the 2012/13 season. In December 2012 he was signed by

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the Speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess. The ...

for their 2013 British

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

team on a five-point assessed

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

, having spent the previous two summers in Britain gaining experience.Kinvig, David (2013)
Speedway: Monarchs at Max strength after snatching Fricke from Tigers’ lair
, ''

Edinburgh Evening News The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which also ...

'', 5 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013 In January 2013 he won the Australian Under-21 championship at the Loxford Park Speedway in

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,044. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, ...

, beating Taylor Poole,

Justin Sedgmen Justin Maxwell Sedgmen (born 17 February 1992) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. Career Junior career Born in Mildura, Victoria, Justin Sedgmen and his older brother Ryan (born December 1990) began their speedway careers at Mildura ...

, and Alex Davies in the final, and becoming the youngest winner of the title since

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also w ...

in 1988.Oakes, Peter (2013) "New Champ Keeps Cool", ''Speedway Star'', 26 January 2013, pp. 6-7Fricke Flies to Aussie Crown
, speedwaygp.com, 19 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013 On 25 January 2014, Fricke won his second straight Australian Under-21 Championship at the

Gillman Speedway Gillman Speedway (sometimes called Gillman Speedway Stadium) is a purpose built, long motorcycle speedway located in the Adelaide suburb of Gillman in South Australia. The track opened in 1998 and runs approximately 13 meetings per season fro ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. Fricke finished the heats with 13 points, 2 behind Nick Morris, before winning the final from Ryan Douglas and

Jack Holder Jack Holder (born 23 March 1996) in Appin, New South Wales is an Australian speedway rider currently riding for Sheffield Tigers in the British Elite League and Apator Toruń in the Polish Ekstraliga. Jack is a World team champion and his bro ...

, the younger brother of 2012 World Champion

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider currently riding for Lejonen in the Swedish Elitserien and for Apator Toruń in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga. He became the Austra ...

, after

Nick Morris Nick Morris is a British film maker better known for directing music videos in the 1980's. Career Nick Morris began writing and making amateur films at school, one of which was shown at the NFT. His professional career began in the 1980s with ...

had crashed on the last lap whilst in second place. Together with

Sam Masters Samuel Peter Masters (born 23 May 1991) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Premier League Riders' Championship in 2011. Masters is an Australian Champion having won the Championship in January 2017. Career Masters was bo ...

, Max Fricke won the 2014 Premier League Best Pairs at Somerset. After fishing equal third on 48 points with Justin Sedgmen in the four round 2015 Australian Championship (his best result to date), Fricke was classified fourth due to Sedgmen's better A and B Final results over the series (Fricke only qualified for the A Final in Rd.3 at Undera Park while Sedgmen qualified for the A Finals in Rd.1 at Gillman and Rd.2 at

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

). A week after Australian Championship, Fricke then went on to win his third straight Australian U/21 Championship at Loxford Park on 17 January, defeating

and

Brady Kurtz Brady Kurtz (born 27 September 1996) is an Australian speedway rider. Biography Born in Cowra, New South Wales, Kurtz isn't the only racer in his family. Brady's older brother Todd Kurtz is a fellow Speedway rider, who has ridden for the Plymo ...

in a closely fought final. He was presented his winners trophy by Chris Holder who himself won a record four Aussie U/21 titles (Holder jointly holds the record with

). With his third win, Fricke now sits equal second for total U/21 wins with

Travis McGowan Travis McGowan (born 13 January 1981 in Mildura, Victoria) is an Australian speedway rider. Career McGowan started racing motorbikes the age of ten, and in 1993 he won the Australian Under-16 Championship at Darwin's Northline Speedway. Succ ...

and former dual Under-21 World Champion

Darcy Ward Darcy Stephen Ward (born 4 May 1992 in Nanango, Queensland) is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider who won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Under-21 Championships as well as the 2009 and 2010 World Under-21 Championships. His ...

. Fricke contested his first Under-21 World Championship in 2015, finishing the three round series held in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in a credible 6th place with 28 points scored. Although he did not get to ride on the night, Fricke and fellow Aussie Justin Sedgemen were named as the reserve riders for the

2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia The 2015 Don Smallgoods Australian FIM Speedway Grand Prix was the twelfth and final round of the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix season. It took place on 24 October at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. Riders Australian rider Sam Masters ...

held on 24 October at the

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. A week after the SGP in Melbourne, Fricke was part of the Australian Under-21 Team alongside

, Jack Holder and

that finished in third place in the

2015 Team Speedway Junior World Championship The 2015 Team Speedway Junior World Championship was the 11th FIM Team Under-21 World Championship season. The final took place on 31 October, 2015 at the Olympic Park Speedway in Mildura, Australia, the first time it was held outside of Europ ...

Final held at Olympic Park in Mildura, the first time the U/21 World Cup Final had been held outside of the UK or Europe. Fricke had a quiet night by his standards scoring only 6 of his team's 29 points as they finished behind winners

and runner-up

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. On 13 December 2015, Fricke finished second in the 2015/16 South Australian Solo Championship at Gillman in Adelaide behind NSW rider Rohan Tungate with Sam Masters and

Ty Proctor Tyron Brian Proctor (born 27 February 1987)2019 Rider Index
, speedwaygb.co. Retrieved 20 August 2019

finishing in 3rd and 4th respectively. Fricke would go on to finish the championship in 3rd place having scored 52 points to finish behind winner

and runner-up Sam Masters. On 20 August 2016, Fricke, along with reigning Australian Champion Brady Kurtz, Jake Allen,

and reserve rider Cameron Heeps finished in 2nd place in the

2016 Team Speedway Junior World Championship The 2016 Team Speedway Junior World Championship was the 12th FIM Team Under-21 World Championship season. The final took place on 20 August, 2016 at the ICA Maxi Arena in Norrköping, Sweden.Poland won their ninth Team Under-21 World Champio ...

in Norrköping, Sweden. On 2 October 2016, Max Fricke won the 2016 World Under-21 Championship becoming the 5th Australian rider to win the title following Steve Baker (

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

( 1992),

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Jason ...

(

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) and

( 2009 and 2010). Following a heavy crash by

2016 Speedway Grand Prix The 2016 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 22nd season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 71st FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the sixteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Tai Wof ...

points leader

Jason Doyle Jason Kevin Doyle (born 6 October 1985) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. He became World Champion in 2017. He won the 2015 Australian Solo Championship. He has also won the South Australian Championship in 2014, and the Elite Le ...

in the penultimate round of the series in

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which ruled the former Australian champion out of the final round in Melbourne (and also saw his World Championship aspirations vanish), Sam Masters was moved into the main field with Fricke moved from second to first reserve for the meeting. Following a broken chain to Wildcard rider Brady Kurtz just before the start of Heat 11 of the SGP in Melbourne, Fricke got his first start in the senior World Championship and became the 200th rider to race in the series since its inception in

. On 28 January 2017, Fricke won his 4th Australian U/21 Championship at Loxford Park in Kurri Kurri. By winning the title, Fricke joined Leigh Adams and Chris Holder as a four-time winner of the event. He also equaled Leigh Adams' 5 podium finishes in the title with the same 4 wins and one 3rd-place finish record. On 12 January 2019 he won the

Australian Solo Championship The Australian Solo Championship is a motorcycle speedway championship held each year to determine the Australian national champion. It is organised by Motorcycling Australia (MA) and is the oldest continuously running national speedway champion ...

, a second place in the fifth round enough to secure the title ahead of Rohan Tungate and

. He won his first Grand Prix in 2020 at Toruń. Fricke finished in 13th place during the 2022

Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official champions ...

, after securing 52 points during the

2022 Speedway Grand Prix The 2022 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 28th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 77th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the first series promoted by Discovery Sports Events. Artem Laguta was the reigning champion, hav ...

, which included winning the Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw Grand Prix. He qualified for the

2023 Speedway Grand Prix The 2023 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 29th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 78th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the second series promoted by Discovery Sports Events. Bartosz Zmarzlik was the defending cha ...

by virtue of finishing 4th in the 2023 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification. However, the highlight of his season was winning the 2022 Speedway of Nations for Australia with

. In addition he won a league title with the

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 13 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, wi ...

during the

SGB Premiership 2022 The 2022 SGB Premiership was the 87th season of the top tier of British Speedway and the 5th known as the SGB Premiership. Sheffield Tigers topped the regular season table and met Belle Vue Aces in the play off final but Belle Vue ran out the winn ...

. He signed for

Leicester Lions Leicester Lions are a speedway team which originally operated from 1968 until 1983.Bamford, R & Jarvis J.(2001). ''Homes of British Speedway''. The club returned to speedway for the 2011 Premier League season, moving up to the Elite League ...

for the

SGB Premiership 2023 The 2023 Sports Insure SGB Premiership is the 88th season of the top tier of British speedway and the 6th known as the SGB Premiership. There was an increase of one team after the Leicester Lions opted to move up from the SGB Championship. 20 ...

Major results

World individual Championship

- 35th *

2017 Speedway Grand Prix The 2017 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 23rd season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 72nd FIM Speedway World Championship. It was seventeenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. The worl ...

- 18th * 2019 Speedway Grand Prix - 16th * 2020 Speedway Grand Prix - 10th (including Toruń grand prix win) *

2021 Speedway Grand Prix The 2021 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 27th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 76th FIM Speedway World Championship. The series was dominated by Polish venues once again with six of the 11 races taking place in Poland. Gre ...

- 8th *

- 13th (including Warsaw grand prix win)

World team Championships

2017 Speedway World Cup The 2017 Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup (SWC) was the seventeenth and the last FIM Speedway World Cup, the annual international speedway world championship tournament. It took place between 1 July and 8 July 2017 and involved nine nationa ...

- 5th *

2018 Speedway of Nations The 2018 Speedway of Nations was the first FIM Speedway of Nations. The competition consisted of two race-off events and a two-legged final. The event was won by Russia, who beat Great Britain in the Grand Final. It replaced the Speedway World Cu ...

- 4th *

2019 Speedway of Nations The 2019 Speedway of Nations was the second FIM Speedway of Nations. The competition consisted of two race-off events and a two-legged final. The event was won by Russia for the second consecutive year. They beat Poland in the Grand Final with Au ...

3rd * 2020 Speedway of Nations - 5th *

2021 Speedway of Nations The 2021 Speedway of Nations (sponsored by Monster Energy) was the fourth FIM Speedway of Nations. The competition consisted of two semi-finals and a final. The final was held on 16 & 17 October 2021 and was won by Great Britain, with Poland tak ...

- 4th * 2022 Speedway of Nations - Winner

Individual Under-21 World Championship

* 2015 - / / - 6th - 28pts *

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- / / - Winner - 46pts

Under-21 Speedway World Cup

* 2015 -

, Olympic Park Speedway - 3rd - 29pts (6) *

- Norrköping, Vargarna Speedway - 2nd - 37pts (8)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fricke, Max Living people Australian speedway riders Belle Vue Aces riders Edinburgh Monarchs riders Leicester Lions riders 1996 births