This week we learned that Brady Kurtz will be the guest rider at the Melbourne Grand Prix at the end of the year.

The qualification works the same as it did last year, where they give the guest spot to whoever finished highest in the Australian Championships at the start of the season.

If that’s how they’re going to do it, then I think it is the right way. Kurtz had a steady Australian Championships, he won so he deserves it.

I see quite a lot of him because he races for Poole so I know how he races. He is still only 19 but I think he should do a pretty good job.

There are probably better Australian riders out there at the moment but because of the way the qualification works, it means that Kurtz is the one who gets the spot. Good luck to him, you’ve got to hope he will do a good job in it.

Kurtz’s performances haven’t been that amazing this year, he’s been steady whereas when people like Sam Masters and Max Fricke are doing as well as they’re doing, they probably deserve it on current form, but they didn’t beat him in the championships, which is all that counts.

As for the Australians who ride for Swindon, one of us just needs to win the Australian Championships to get in next year.

There are still a few rounds to go but I expect our captain at Swindon, Jason Doyle, to be the overall GP series winner.

He got really close last year to winning it and he probably would have been in the top two spots if it wasn’t for his accident.

I think he’ll keep doing what he’s been doing all year, which is riding well. I truly believe he will be world champion in Melbourne.

As an Australian, the Melbourne GP is something you dream of being a part of. You want to be in the world championships so it’s one of those things you strive to get into.

Kurtz will be able to go into the GP with no pressure on him so he can just go in there open minded and do his thing.

If I was him, I would be trying to find out as much about it as I can, asking questions so I had some idea what to be ready for.

He’ll be able to see what Doyle is doing, he’s just going to have to learn for himself, he’ll definitely have fun.