Inside Dirt Track Sidecars: Jim Jobling’s Journey

I grew up watching my Uncle Darryl Woodhead and stepdad Laurie Askew compete in dirt track racing. From a young age I always wanted to race myself, but growing up I never really had the opportunity to make it happen.

In 2016 I finally got my start as a passenger on a dirt track sidecar. Then in 2017 I borrowed a GSXR600 for my first race as a rider at Trackmasters at Barleigh Ranch — and got the win. Not long after that I decided to buy my own bike, a Smith Chassis 2000 ZX6 running on methanol with a fluoro pink paint job.

From then, it was game on. I found myself a passenger and got to as many meetings as I could to learn the craft of dirt track sidecar racing and improve wherever possible. At the end of 2017 I blew the ZX6 up, so it got a heart transplant with an 03 R1 engine.

Through 2018, 2019 and into 2020 I raced as much as possible, picking up another Trackmasters win and several podiums at open meetings along the way. I sold the bike in March 2020 just before COVID hit, and although I told myself I was done racing, almost immediately after selling it I contacted Stephen Smith from Smith’s Chassis to start building another one.

The new bike runs a 2012 Cross Plane R1 with custom fat pipes Exhaust, a Haltech ECU and ignition system paired with a Hardwired Motorsports custom wiring harness. It sits on 13-inch Hoosier tyres, it was tuned by Doctor Mak, has a custom sticker kit from The Printery Gunnedah, a fluoro yellow paint job, and has been maintained and set up by Stewy Downes in Gunnedah, NSW.

After two years off the bike, I made my comeback in 2022, hitting a few meetings while trying to find the right passenger. Into 2023 things started to click and I finished 2nd in the Australian Track Titles. Unfortunately, 2023 was also one of the toughest years of my life. In March I lost my brother, Guy Keast, in a motorcycle accident, and later that year at the Aussie Dirt Track Titles in Albury I had a crash which resulted in breaking two vertebrae in my neck and six in my back. Thankfully the fractures were stable and surgery wasn’t required, I spent months off work in a neck brace wondering when I’d race again.

I made my comeback in 2024 alongside my passenger Brodie Trembath. Together we’ve attended 13 meetings and finished on the podium or won at 12 of those meetings. That success is a credit not just to us on the bike, but also to Stewy and all our sponsors who help keep the bike running and get us to the track.

Heading into 2026 I competed for the second time in The Burt Munro Challenge in New Zealand, which I go over each February for. It is an amazing week of bike racing and displays and I would encourage everyone to put it on their list. We have also recently placed 3rd at the Quirindi Longtrack, now focusing on the Australian Dirt Track Titles in May followed by a strong run of open meetings to finish the year. Anyone wanting to follow Dirt Track Sidecar racing can jump on Facebook and follow the Oz Dirt Track Sidecars page or message me for details.

Thank you our sponsors & the people who support us: M.C.S Motorcycle Specialities, Turners Cycles & Outdoors, Shark Leather’s & Accessories, Bayswater Construction Group, REPAGENCY.COM, The Printery and East Coast Supplements.