{"id":238342,"date":"2019-06-26T20:25:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T10:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=238342"},"modified":"2020-07-09T18:03:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-09T08:03:26","slug":"star-comes-out-for-race-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/26\/star-comes-out-for-race-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Comes Out For Race Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Top motocross rider Joel Evans was full of praise for what the SBJMX club has achieved<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 26, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett Junior Motorcycle Club had a star attraction at its return-to-racing club day in Kingaroy on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Kingaroy rider Joel Evans brought along his famous 81 number plate to race – and easily win – the Senior Lights class.<\/p>\n

He was fresh from his second place in the recent Queensland MX Championships, a result that he admitted he was a little disappointed about.<\/p>\n

However, the fact that Joel can walk, let alone race motocross is amazing.<\/p>\n

In 2015, he broke his C5 and C6 vertebrae during the\u00a0fourth round of the MX Nationals at Murray Bridge in South Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the crash, Joel was left paralysed from the neck down.<\/p>\n

Doctors feared he would never walk again, let alone return to a motorbike.<\/p>\n

He was placed in a coma in hospital for a week and had to go through months of physiotherapy to learn how to walk and use his arms again.<\/p>\n

Joel still has some issues with his left arm and back but, as he told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> on Saturday, he has nothing to complain about as it all could have been so much worse.<\/p>\n

He was full of praise for what the SBJMX club had achieved in Kingaroy and reminisced about what the track was like when he used to race there as a child.<\/p>\n

“The guys have done a fantastic job. I’m happy to support them,” he said.<\/p>\n

There is a whole new 1.55km track now at the Edenvale South Road site; where Joel used to race is part of the car park!<\/p>\n

SBJMX president Brent Perrett said the club was very happy about how the first club race day held for more than a decade had worked out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We had 105 competitors and the canteen did really well, too,” he said.<\/p>\n

The track will now be hosting a round of the South-East Queensland Junior MX series on September 14-15.<\/p>\n