Strong donates riding fee to a mate and a local in need

Back-to-back X Games freestyle motocross gold medalist Jackson Strong will donate his riding fee from this weekend’s Lockhart Fair to two patients at Sydney’s Brain Rehabilitation Centre.

The 20-year-old has been riding at his home event for the past 9 years and has, on each occasion, passed up on payment in order for it to be given to a local in need.

This year, however, the connection for Strong is much closer to home.

Just days before he was due to fly to the United States in June to defend his X Games gold medal, Strong’s best mate Luke Stojanovic was critically injured in a dirt bike crash.

Strong remained by his mate’s bedside before making a mercy dash to the airport, making his flight Los Angeles with minutes to spare.

In the space of 48 hours, the Lockhart local had secured his second gold medal, but his thoughts remained at home and on the progress of his mate.

Stojanovic remains in specialist care at the Sydney Brain Rehabilitation centre, in the vicinity of another Lockhart resident, Kim Hart, who is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident earlier in the year.

Strong will share his riding fee between Stojanovic and Hart in the hope it will go some way to ease the burden of considerable medical costs.

He hopes that fellow Lockhart residents will join in him supporting the pair’s recovery.

Strong will ride in two performances – 12.00pm and 2.00pm – at the Lockhart Fair this Sunday September 23.