Arguably one of the brightest young talents on the Australian speedway scene, Ardie Jonic, has announced his retirement from junior competition and is now looking towards continuing his career in the sport within the senior ranks.
The 16-year-old from Ipswich in Queensland has over the past decade been a consistent front runner around the country in firstly Junior Quarter Midgets and then most recently in Junior Sedans.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time learning the ropes in the junior classes of speedway and it’s taught me so much that’s going to help me for the next stage of my career,” commented the current and two-time National Junior Sedan Champion.
“Apart from the success out on the track, the best thing about speedway is all of the people that you meet and the tracks around the country that you get the opportunity to race at, and these are memories that are going to stay with me for a long, long time.”
Regarding Jonic’s future, he admits that his plans aren’t yet set in concrete; however, he is looking towards the future with plenty of optimism.
“The only plans I have at the moment for next season is to help my cousin Jordan Jonic, when he steps into Junior Quarter Midgets,” he explained.
“I know that I’m currently looking at a range of classes to continue my speedway career in as a senior and will most probably do some test drives, so although I’m sidelined for the foreseeable future, I hopefully won’t be out of the driver’s seat for too long.”
Over his 10 years of junior speedway competition, Jonic has amassed over 50 feature-race wins. With major wins in Junior Quarter Midgets over his time, he then went on to a successful career in Junior Sedans, which included two National Titles, Queensland Titles, South Australian Titles, Tasmanian Titles, Victorian Titles, Northern Territory Titles, and an RSA NSW Title. Another honour on Jonic’s impressive resume was being voted the Junior Driver of the Year at last year’s Speedway Australia Awards Night.
Jonic’s final race meeting in Junior Sedans is set to be on the Saturday night of May 11 at Gympie’s Mothar Mountain Speedway in his home state of Queensland.
To find out more about Jonic, LIKE him on Facebook by searching Ardie Jonic Racing Team #50.
