42 races required to decide South Australian Sidecar Champion at Gillman next Monday - December 2015

December 24, 2015 by Gillman Media

Sidecars take over the Gillman Speedway Stadium next Monday (28 December) with the Sailun Tyres South Australian Sidecar Championship requiring a massive 40 heats to narrow down the top seven to contest the last chance semi-final and the final.

Ten riders have been seeded into the Championship heats, which will start at 7.30pm, but the other six riders will be determined by a 20-heat qualifying meeting which will be held at 3pm.

The South Australian Sidecar Championship is one of the hardest meetings of the season anywhere in Australia; featuring line-ups equal to an Australian Championship, and this season’s title meeting is no exception.

Not only are there ten seeded riders all capable of making the final, but there are riders in the qualifying meeting capable of making the final.

If that sounds unlikely, well it was done as recently as last season when Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan only came into the championship as the third qualifiers and went through to not only reach the semi-final but to win it and go into the final and only just missed out on third place after a close race with Justin Plaisted/Sam Harrison.

Plaisted/Harrison (pictured at the top) later went on to win the Australian Championship in Alice Springs in April, but Plaisted is yet to win the State title as a rider, although he has five titles to his credit as passenger for Darrin Treloar.

If Monday is to be his night, he is going to have to beat four former SA Champions and two Victorian Champions.

Mick Headland is the most recent winner (2014) in the line-up and is always in contention in any meeting he contests. He’s also a twice World Track Racing Champion, but he is yet to win the State title with his son Jesse as passenger.

Mark Plaisted (2013) and Mark Mitchell (2012) were the two previous winners before Headland, and, like Headland they have other titles on their resumes to back up their claims to be amongst the favourites. Plaisted is a former Grand Slam and Oceania Champion, while Mitchell is a former Australian champion.

The other former SA Champion in the line-up is former Adelaide rider Dave Bottrell. Bottrell, who now lives in Townsville, was the most successful local rider in the title before a major crash in 2008 put him out of the sport for several years. He has to go through the qualifying meeting but he is still more than capable of winning the whole show. In one of his few meetings since his crash he rode in the 2014 Australian Championship in NSW and finished second to Darrin Treloar which showed he is still a major player in Australian Sidecar racing.

Amongst the main challengers to these former SA Champions are former Victorian Champions Warren Monson and Byren Gates.

Monson is a five-time Victorian champion, and the current Australia #2, but both he and Gates have never made it to the rostrum in the SA Championship, which again highlights just how tough this event is.

Outside of that group of former championship winners are Trent Headland, Damien Niesche, Shane Rudloff and Arron Hartwig, who are all capable of reaching the semi-final, or even the final if they are in top form.

Headland and Niesche both reached the semi-final of last season’s Australian Championship and it was only coming up against Mick Headland in the semi-final that cost them the chance of a place in the final. And, of course, as mentioned Rudloff was a finalist in this meeting last season.

With such as strong line-up, a great night’s entertainment is guaranteed, and there are going to be some disappointed riders at the end of the night.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Monday, 28 December 2015.

Venue: Gillman Speedway Stadium, 65 Wilkins Road, Gillman – near the Port Adelaide area.

Gates open: Western (main) gate open from 1pm, Eastern gate from 5 pm. The Eastern gate will close at 8pm. Off-street parking areas near both gates.

Racing starts: Qualifying meeting at 3pm; Championship heats at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits before both events.

Nominations:

SA Sidecar Championship : 13 Trent Headland/Daz Whetstone, 15 Shane Rudloff/Tom Adams, 27 Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, 35 Mark Mitchell/Dale Knights, 40 Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear, 43 Warren Monson/Andrew Summerhayes, 47 Justin Plaisted/Sam Harrison, 50 Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin, 75 Mark Plaisted/Darcy Risstrom, 107 Mick Headland/Jesse Headland, plus six highest point scorers from the qualifying meeting

Qualifying meeting : 05 Klae Hobbs/Don Morris, 12 Brian Silvy/ Josh Knott, 14 Kym Menadue/ Eric Melton, 16 Mark Radford/Chris Walker (Vic), 16 Mick Tucker/Corey Palmer, 21 Aaron Silvy/Adam Pascoe, 22 Steven Fowler/Scott Kauschke, 31 Darryll Woods/Will Walker, 36 Dave Bottrell/Deven Gates, 43 Luke Puddy/Damian Egan, 55 Ron Parker/Jarred Edey, 56 Steve Browne/Scott Morris, 65 Rob Patterson/Franko Vasile (Vic), 77 Tim Bichard/Anthony Schulz, 905 Ricky Fechner/Justin Richards, 970 Dean Hobbs/Brett Lewis

Admission prices: Adults $25, Age Pension and Student Concession $20 (*), Children Under 16 $5, Under 12 free. Family $55. Grandstand seating free for qualifying meeting, $5 for championship heats. Programme $5. Parking free.

(*) Concession is limited Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only.

Weather Forecast: Sunny, maximum 31, minimum 16. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]

Seating: 216 seat grandstand; terracing and large grassed viewing mounds suitable for deck chairs.

Sponsor: Sailun Tyres.

The first Sailun tyres rolled off the production line in 2001 and now Sailun sells over 30 million tyres annually in over 50 countries world-wide. Sailun’s amazing growth has come in large part due to an in-depth understanding of its customers and commitment to their Core Values of value, performance and support.

Sailun is With You Through Every Turn!

Food and drink: Full bar and catering available. Food includes hot chips, hamburgers, chicken burgers, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, Chiko Rolls, dim sims, hot dogs, nachos, doughnuts, coffee, cold drinks, sweets. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World, February 2015]

Please note a condition of our liquor licence is no byo alcohol or glass can be brought into the venue. Also note no pets, other than guide dogs, are allowed into the venue.

Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop including the latest Blackchrome manufactured shirts and jackets. Eftpos available only in the souvenir shop.

Directions:

The best way to get to Gillman Speedway is off Hanson Road.

If you are coming from the eastern and southern suburbs, get on to Hanson road off Torrens Road or Grand Junction Road, travel north on Hanson road over the train line then take the first road on the left, which is Wilkins road.

From the northern suburbs, travel down the new Port Adelaide expressway and take the Hanson Road exit. Once on Hanson Road, take the first exit on your right, this is Wilkins road.

From the western suburbs, Wilkins Road is the continuation of Bedford Street, north of Eastern Parade.

For interstate visitors flying into Adelaide and getting a hire car, Gillman is about 20kms, and 30 minutes’ drive (depending on traffic lights) from the airport. The easiest and most direct way, if not going to your accommodation first is:

On leaving the airport, turn left onto Sir Donald Bradman Drive. Continue along Sir Donald Bradman Drive until you reach the end of the airport grounds and turn right onto Tapleys Hill Road. Once you are on Tapleys Hill Road you can’t really go wrong. You only have to make three or four turns and most of those are simple. Just keep going on Tapleys Hill Road until you can’t go any further. That’s Port Road. Turn left onto Port Road (you can only turn left, so pretty easy to this point). Continue down Port Road for about 1 km to the first intersection which is Grand Junction road and turn right. You only go 700 metres along Grand Junction Road over a bridge over a railway line. Stay in the left lane because at the bottom of the bridge you turn left into Gray Terrace. Go to the end of Gray Terrace and turn right (you can’t go straight ahead) onto Bedford Street. Just keep going on that road until you get to the speedway. About 2 kilometres.

Accommodation: There is plenty of accommodation in Adelaide and suburbs, within 20-30 minutes of the Speedway, ranging from five star hotels to caravan parks and backpacker hostels. The Pavlos Motel on Main North Road, Pooraka; and the Mawson Lakes Hotel and Function Centre, Main Street, Mawson Lakes, offer a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the venues direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab.

Contact for this meeting: Speedway Manager, David Parker 0403 364 658