A trio of Illawarra motocross legends will be honoured at WIN Stadium next Saturday night when the venue hosts the latest round of the Australian Supercross Championships.
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Anthony Gunter, Jay Marmont and Ryan Marmont will all participate in a legends lap of honour next weekend, with Gunter to ride the motorbike he used to win the 1979 Mr Motocross Championship.
Gunter played a key role in helping the sport surge in popularity through his rivalry with Stephen Gall and he said it's great to see Wollongong locals will have the chance to watch Australia's best racers next Saturday.
"Myself and Stephen Gall were pretty much the first couple of guys to go professional in 1978," Gunter said. "We built the sport and it got promoted through the Mr Motocross series and then it's grown quite considerably since then.
"It's been such a long time between drinks for having a supercross event in Wollongong. There's going to be a lot of interest in it, it's a great spectacle and a great thing for people to come out and watch."
The event next weekend will act as the third round of the Australian Supercross Championship and will see WIN Stadium transformed into a full-sized dirt track. In a unique twist, the eastern hill will also be converted into a section of the track.
Having retired from racing, Gunter runs South Coast KTM in Port Kembla, where he helps develop the next generation of south coast stars.
Both Jay and Ryan Marmont are among the talent Gunter helped produce and Jay said it will be an honour to share a lap of WIN Stadium with one of his early mentors.
"Gunt was our first sponsor," Jay said. "My dad used to go around with him when he was racing Mr Motocross bikes and be his mechanic, then he had a massive role in our career.
"He's still a great family friend and a great guy for the sport. Having guys like that still involved in the sport and knowing so much about motocross, it's so influential.
"Doing the lap of honour with my brother, Anthony, my ex-boss Craig Dack, it'll be good to be out there with those guys. They've won multiple championships and are legends of the sport."
The brothers have followed in Gunter's footsteps in recent times and are also playing a key role in coaching the sport's junior racers.
Jay is hopeful the supercross event next weekend, which will be the first in Wollongong since 2011, will help inspire the next generation of talent to jump on the bike and reach the professional level of the sport.
"To be bringing supercross back to Wollongong, it hasn't been here for a few years. For all the juniors out there it's exciting, I'm helping a couple of kids who have never raced supercross before get their feet wet.
"There's a lot of kids out there who were probably four or five, maybe 10 years of age when I rode here, who are now 15, 16, 20.
"Giving them guys a chance to see supercross again and everyone else here is a great opportunity.
Australian Supercross Championship
- November 9 at 5pm
- WIN Stadium, Wollongong
- Tickets from Ticketmaster
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