O’Shannassy Made for Speedway

​It was no wonder why Junior Quarter Midgets racer Koby O’Shannassy wanted to pursue competitive racing, having grown up in the speedway oriented town of Warrnambool in the south-west coast of Victoria.

After an impressive debut season in Novice A in the 2015-16 season, which saw him come away with two feature-race wins and consistently finish amongst the top three, seven-year-old O’Shannassy made the move into the 120cc Open class, where he has experienced a character building, but promising season, which has been highlighted by a fourth-place finish in the recent Australian Grand Prix.

With each race meeting, O’Shannassy gains more confidence to be able to pass cars around the outside of the track, a move that recently paid off at Geelong’s Avalon Raceway, where he managed to drive around the entire field in his heat race, going on to take the win.

O’Shannassy has a rich speedway background, with dad, Mat, having raced Super Rods and Formula 500s, while his uncle, Paul, currently races 410 Sprintcars, a goal that O’Shannassy himself hopes to achieve in the future, while looking up to his idols in Uncle Paul and fellow Warrnambool-based racer Jye O’Keeffe.

In addition to 410 Sprintcars, O’Shannassy would also one day love to race NASCAR.
O’Shannassy would like to thank the following 2016-17 season sponsors for their valued support: MacDonald Family, Slayer Race Engines, and Cake Face. He would also like to give special thanks to his dad, Mat, and his mum, Trephina.

A Junior Quarter Midget is a quarter scale version of an actual open wheel midget (Speedcar) which is open to race for kids between five and 16 years of age. The cars are built around a tubular chromoly frame including ant-intrusion bars and kick-outs to stop wheel interference. All vehicles are fully suspended with coil over racing shock absorbers.

The vehicle bodies consist of fibreglass and aluminium and the cars are powered by Honda GX120 or GX160 single cylinder air-cooled 4 cycle engines providing 4.5-5.5 horsepower in standard configuration. The emphasis in Quarter Midget Racing is on participation and skill building and as such, the JQMA has a strict sealed, standard motor policy.

For more information on Junior Quarter Midgets Victoria, visit their website at www.jqmv.com.au or contact their President Graham Hutchinson on 0417 566 709.