Just six months after the passing of his father Rick, who was his biggest supporter, Jake Briggs has achieved a major career milestone last Saturday night at Solo Hobart Speedway, winning his maiden AMCA Nationals feature race.

It was an emotion-charged victory for the 23-year-old racer, whose fifth season with the class is also his first without his dad by his side, after Rick lost his battle with brain cancer in April, three and a half years after being diagnosed with the disease.

Making his season debut last Saturday night at Solo Hobart Speedway, after missing the season opener, Briggs was in fine form, earning the pole position start for the 20-lap feature race after a second and a win in his two heat races.

Immediately getting the jump off the starting line, Briggs could not be headed, managing to endure half a dozen stoppages during what felt like a long-winded feature race to claim a well-deserved victory.

“To say that I had mixed emotions about Saturday night’s win is an understatement, but to have finally achieved it after all of the hard work that dad and I put in over the years was a great feeling for the whole family,” expressed the Dromedary, Tasmania-based racer.

“I definitely wouldn’t have been able to achieve my maiden feature-race win without dad, so I couldn’t be happier to be able to honour his memory with it. I also have to thank the rest of my family, who have been extremely supportive of me, along with my sponsors. It was a whole team effort.”

Having grown up around speedway from an early age, with Rick having raced Tassie 6s for over a decade, Jake made the decision to commence his own competitive racing career at the age of 18, joining the AMCA Nationals class, which appealed to him due to its affordability and American feel.

1 11 2017 Jake Briggs

Spending two seasons building on his experience, Briggs then purchased the ex-Kallan Muir owned Panther chassis, which he continued to race for another two seasons, showing good speed and collecting a handful of minor podium results.

Preparing for the 2016-17 season with a practice run at Hobart Speedway in Early October, Briggs made an unfortunate driver error which caused him to hit the wall, causing irreparable damage to his car and bringing his season to an abrupt end.

With Rick’s health deteriorating, Briggs and his family made the decision to purchase a brand new Panther chassis from Panther owner Mick Kiraly before Christmas, in the hopes of giving Rick the chance to see his son pilot the machine.

Following his dad’s tragic passing, Briggs spent the off season preparing his 253-powered Tas # 27 Panther, which also runs a quick-change differential, to give himself the best chance of achieving what his dad had always helped him towards; managing to achieve just that in his first appearance for the season, with some strong encouragement and support behind him.

Briggs’s next outing will take place at Latrobe’s Gulf Western & Independent Oils Raceway on the Saturday night of November 11. Later in the season, he also plans to travel to the mainland to contest the Australian Title at Ballarat’s Redline Raceway in Victoria.

Brain cancer occurs when abnormal cells in the brain grow in an uncontrolled way. On average, approximately 1,600 brain cancers are diagnosed each year in Australia, which equates to roughly one person diagnosed with brain cancer every five hours. To find out more or make a donation, visit www.curebraincancer.org.au.

Briggs would like to thank the following 2017-18 season sponsors: Valvoline Oils, Phil Young Engine Reconditioning, G.M. Pace & Son, Stencil Concrete, Activ8 Fitness, Household Electrical Repairs, Panther Chassis, Tas Performance Warehouse, and Zipp Powdercoating.

He would also like to give special thanks to his dad Rick, his mum Teresa, his sister Sophie, his brother Kayne, his pop Alan, his cousin Brock, his uncle Nick, Michelle and Andrew, and the rest of his family and friends for their continued support.