There was a time when the new president of the Katherine Motocross Club thought he had bitten off more than he could chew.
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The club was at a low ebb after two year hiatus with only a handful of members and the Territory's sports body challenged them to put on the NT's annual premier titles.
"It would be only the second time we'd ever put on the titles, there was really only a few us running the show but we thought it was the ideal way to relaunch the club, so we went for it," president Peter Bogucki said.
The club only has one junior on its books, Mr Bogucki's own son, but by presenting the titles in Katherine, and some come and try days, the club is hoping it will give them the impetus to bring the club back from the dead.
A "ride park day" is being held at the track on September 19-20 - any sort of bike is welcome, just bring your protective gear.
It is a reward for the club's focus in recent months to upgrade the facilities and the track off Bicentennial Road, opposite the speedway track.
A new toilet block has been built, irrigation lines laboriously dug around the track, which has itself been rebuilt.
A 40-man starting gate completes the picture to bring it back to a national standard.
"There's been a lot of work, by a lot of volunteers and we've had a lot of generous help from Katherine businesses as well, they have been terrific," Mr Bogucki said.
The icing on the cake came with the award of a $5000 community grant from Katherine Town Council to help stage the titles.
On Friday, October 2 there will be the "natural terrain" NT titles at Pine Creek's Pussy Cat Flats and then on Saturday and Sunday, October 3 and 4, are the NT Motocross Titles in Katherine.
Organisers hope more than 100 competitors will lob in Katherine for the event - with their families and supporters to swell numbers to close to 300.
"They spend money in town on accommodation, fuel, food, we think it will come at a good town for the town which has been doing it tough," Mr Bogucki said.
He said the focus was on juniors, he says local Katherine junior sport has been hit hard this year by pandemic restrictions, and he has been buoyed also by the interest from personnel at the Tindal RAAF Base who want to use the track and compete regularly.
"It is an addictive sport, a family addiction but yes it can be expensive at the top level."
Mr Bogucki said he hoped spectators would come along from Katherine and support the club as well.
"We've got long term plans of holding at least one big event like this each year going forward," he said.
To learn more about the club go to their Facebook page for the contacts.
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