Sorensen Rd is a hoon hotspot on Gympie’s Southside

A quiet Gympie suburb, idyllic and neighbourly during the day, turns into a revving, drifting, break and enter nightmare at night and was the scene of an alleged attempted murder with a car this week. Local residents are not happy.

The Sorensen Road area on the Southside is a quiet suburb by day, but at night its streets become notorious hoon hotspots.

There is a street on Gympie’s Southside that appears to be a quaint neighbourhood during the day but turns into a “hoonland” at night, where residents live in fear of a car “ploughing through their house”.

Lined with nice homes and well kept gardens, Sorensen Rd is neighbourly and bright during the day before turning into a notorious hoon stretch at night.

The wide 3km road of sweeping turns and inclines offers the perfect conditions for drifting, burnouts and getting airborne.

A 34-year-old man was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly drove his car at two people on Sorensen Rd, Gympie, leaving a woman with critical injuries. May 22, 2023.

“They come down here and burn around the roundabouts and then they go up there and then burn around that roundabout, and when they get up to the top they just go crazy,” Tony, a resident of one of the streets said.

“Last Saturday I was just waiting to hear a bang.”

Apart from a few tyre marks, Sorensen Rd and its adjoining streets are lined with manicured lawns, the houses bright, window panes clean, and the driveways framed with pot plants and newly turfed lawn.

Walking up and down the streets in the middle of a sunny autumn day one would never imagine how this neighbourhood could change at night.

Sorensen Rd and its adjoining streets are quiet and neighbourly by day but turn into the hoon streets of Gympie at night, terrorising the residents. Picture: Christine Schindler

Residents are out walking their dogs, pushing prams, going for a run, leisurely and without fear. Strangely, the comfortable neighbourhood talk between them is how they learn about all the crime.

“One of my neighbours was out walking and asked me if anything had happened to my car. I then learned they slashed all his tyres and it cost him $3000,” Tony said.

Only last week Tony saw three young kids in his backyard who he shooed away after his dog started barking.

“They just ran out the side gate when I saw them,” he said.

In the past 10 months Tony has lived in the neighbourhood, he said it had gotten worse.

Sorensen Rd and its adjoining streets are quiet and neighbourly by the day but turn into the hoon streets of Gympie at night. Picture: Christine Schindler

Fears of an incident between a car and pedestrian became reality when late Monday evening, the driver of a car allegedly mowed down a man and woman on Sorensen Road, sending 32-year-old Carla Benson into hospital in critical condition. 

Police have charged Colin James Tupper, who turned himself into the Gympie watchhouse the same night, with attempted murder.

“So much crime is happening, it’s not just the hooning,” Rosie, a resident of a nearby street said.

Rosie, who did not wish to use her real name, was not surprised about what happened.

“Someone had their car stolen from their front yard while they were at home, it’s just getting crazy,” she said.

“It’s definitely becoming a thing.”

Originally published as Sorensen Rd is a hoon hotspot on Gympie’s Southside