Words: Russell Colvin

Dallas Skeer launched his motorcycle career by riding around on a Suzuki 50cc quad bike at the slender age of two, simply because his old man Michael was always into bikes, so motorcycles were always going to be in his life from the word go. The now 16-year-old is quietly starting to make a name for himself in the Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) paddock, which sees him contesting the Supersport category for the 2018 season.

It was in 2014 that Skeer really started his transition to road racing aboard a Honda RS 85, going onto claim his first title by winning the Hartwell Junior 80cc championship with a total of 362 points. “That championship I’ll always remember for sure as it’s my first ever road racing championship I won,” explained Skeer, who’s currently in year 11 at school.

The following year he finished runner-up in the same championship, however pulled through for dual titles in both the Sprint and TT classes of the 2015 Pirelli Road Race Series, beating Scott Nicholson in both championships.

For 2016, Skeer threw his leg over a Honda RS125 GP machine and collected a handful of championships on a local level before stepping off the 125 two-stroke and onto the Moto3 machine, piloting a Honda NSF250R in the 2017 Australian Moto3/125cc Championship – his rookie campaign in the national championship.

Image: Russell Colvin.

In a three-round series, Skeer scored a podium in the opening round at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway and backed it up again at the following stop hosted by Sydney Motorsport, while he finished off with a second overall placing at Phillip Island’s finale in October. The end result saw him finish runner-up in tge overall standings with 153 points on the board.

“2017 was a really consistent year for me in the Australian Moto3 Championship,” expressed the quietly spoken South Australian. “It was a good year and just good to see where we were in terms of how we did in the national championship as we didn’t really know what to expect. We would have liked to have won the championship, but you can’t win them all as the saying goes.”

The removal of the Moto3/125cc championship from this year’s Australian Superbike Championship prompted a graduation to the Supersport category for Skeer, who commented: “As there was not going to be a championship for the Moto3 class in this year’s ASBK series, the time was right to step up to the Supersport championship. On top of that, I had been on the 125/Moto3 for the past two years, so if I were to have done another year on the Moto3, it would have started to get a bit repetitive with what I was doing.

“The offer came up to race in the Supersport class as a privateer, so I jumped at the idea. We had a great support from Barry Francis Motorcycles and all of our other sponsors to help to get the whole project to happen so it was just the right time to step up I believe. It was a good a move for my future to jump up to the Supersport class, as while I’m young I can get as much experience as I can on the 600s.”

Image: Russell Colvin.

Skeer first saddled up on the ex-Ted Collins Suzuki GSX-R600 at Mac Park last year in December. The hardest part Skeer found in the transition from Moto3 to the 600 was changing the lines to better suit a Supersport, rather than a Moto3. “When I first started the weight of the 600 made it harder to ride. A combination of going to the gym three-four times a week and having seat time on the bike has made it easier now,” he continued.

Skeer has set some realistic goals for his Supersport debut year and one of them is to be in the top 10 in the championship come the end of the year. After three rounds, Skeer finds himself sitting in ninth place in the championship fight with 82 points to his name, 27 points shy of third place’s rider Damon Rees.

“So far we’ve been consistent. If we keep going the way we are, we should hopefully end the championship in a good place come October. The last two rounds of the championship I have never been to until this year, and that’s the same with Morgan Park as well. So hopefully with me knowing the Hidden Valley Raceway layout, it should hopefully work into my favour to be able to score a good result. The same goes with racing at Winton and Phillip Island as well.”

Skeer will be on-track next at Hidden Valley’s fourth round of the ASBK series, scheduled for 28 June-1 July in the Northern Territory.