Australian Sidecar Championship preview at Gillman Speedway Saturday night - February 2017

February 28, 2017 by Gillman Media

The Gillman Speedway Sidecar Championship which will be held this Saturday, 4 March, will be virtually a dress rehearsal for this season’s Australian Championship, with most of Australia’s top riders taking part.

Thirty three riders from around Australia, New Zealand and the USA have entered and there will be 47 heats during the afternoon and evening to narrow down the top seven to contest the last chance semi-final and the final.

Twelve riders have been seeded into the Championship heats, which will start at 7.30pm, while the remaining 21 riders will contest two groups of qualifying races, starting at 3pm, to determine the final four riders for the Championship heats.

As with the recent SA Championship, the qualifying events would be a good state championship in their own right, with former Australia #2 Rick Howse, Queenslanders Brodie Cohen, Tyler Moon and Hamish Golding, Mildura’s Neale Hancock and USA #1 Joe Jones, amongst the line-up, along with in-form local riders like Shane Rudloff, Aaron Silvy, Tim Bichard, Kym Menadue, Daniel Puddy, Dean Hobbs and Klae Hobbs. With only four qualifying places available racing will be fierce, and the reward for the top four will be to front up for another five heats against the likes of Darrin Treloar, Justin Plaisted, Mark Plaisted and so the list goes. All twelve seeded riders, as listed below, are former Australian championship qualifiers, and they would all rightly believe they can qualify again for this season’s championship which will be held at Gillman in April.

“This Saturday will be as good as it gets in speedway sidecar racing” said Gillman manager David Parker. “This line-up is the best of the best with almost every leading rider from around Australia competing, and a win will not only give them the Gillman Championship trophy but will strike a significant physcological blow for the national title later in the season.”

“I don’t think you can pick a winner, or even the four finalists with any confidence at all. Every one of the twelve seeded riders, and some of the riders in the Qualifying races are capable of reaching the final, so if you are a true speedway fan this is a meeting not to be missed. We will be starting the qualifying races at 3 o’clock and we expect them to finish around 5.30, then we will redo the track ready for the championship heats to start at 7.30pm. And, although we are effectively running two top class meetings the admission prices will be the same as normal.”

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday, 4 March 2017.

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

Gates open: Eastern gate open from 1pm; Western (main) gate from 4 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.

Riders/Passengers:

Gillman Championship : 13 Trent Headland/Daz Whetstone (SA – Yamaha), 27 Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig (SA – Yamaha), 35 Mark Mitchell/Luke Mitchell (SA – Yamaha), 36 Dave Bottrell/Chris Bottrell (Qld – Yamaha), 39 Andrew Buchanan/Denny Cox (NSW – Honda), 40 Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear (SA -), 43 Warren Monson/Andrew Summerhayes (Vic – Suzuki), 47 Justin Plaisted/Simon Cohrs (SA/Vic-Yamaha), 50 Byren Gates/Jesse Headland (Vic/SA-Yamaha), 71 Shane Hudson/Eli Wright (NSW – Suzuki), 75 Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt (SA – Yamaha), 84 Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox (NSW-Yamaha), plus the 4 highest scorers from Qualifying Group 1

Championship Format: 16 riders x 20 heats plus a last chance semi-final and a final. The 4th to 7th highest scorers go into the semi-final; and the winner of the semi-final and the three highest scorers from the 20 heats go into the final.

Qualifying Group 1 (20 heats) : 1 Joe Jones/Dave German (USA – Suzuki), 05 Klae Hobbs/Liam Cox (SA-Yamaha), 12 Brian Silvy/Josh Knott (SA – Yamaha), 14 Kym Menadue/Eric Melton (SA – Yamaha), 15 Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris (SA-), 16 Mark Radford/Blake Halls (Vic-Yamaha), 21 Aaron Silvy/Chris Pascoe (SA – Yamaha), 43 Daniel Puddy/Luke Puddy (SA-), 64 Brodie Cohen/Damian Egan (Qld – Yamaha), 68 Neale Hancock/Brendan Johnson (Vic – Yamaha), 77 Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh (SA-Yamaha), 108 Rick Howse/Adam Commons (NSW – Yamaha), 120 Tyler Moon/Adam Lovell (Qld – Honda), 888 Hamish Golding/Bayley Ogilvie (QLD – Honda), 970 Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards (SA-), plus the highest scorer from Qualifying Group 2

Qualifying Group 2 : 11 Thomas Adams/Katelyn Silvy (SA – Yamaha), 21 Adon Pearce/Brodie Gebhart (Vic – Yamaha), 25 Clinton Crabb/Michael Bell (SA-Yamaha), 55 Clint Mayes/Sean Coleby (Vic-Yamaha), 56 Steve Browne/Colby Higgins (SA/Vic-Yamaha), 57 Chris Bichard/Brett Lewis (SA – Kawasaki),

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

(*) Concession is limited to Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only. A family ticket covers 2 adults and children under 16.

Weather Forecast: Sunny, maximum 33, minimum 19. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]

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

VIP Area: The V.I.P. area is available to anyone who would like to treat their business colleagues, family or friends to the best view of motorcycle speedway action in Australia. Spectators can enjoy the elevated view overlooking the track, either from inside the temperature controlled room, on the timber decks, or the enclosed lawn area, for a very reasonable price per person. A fully stocked bar and a variety of food to suit all budgets is available and you can book the whole room or part thereof. Ring Gillman Speedway Manager David Parker on 0403 364 658 or e-mail dave@gillmanspeedway.com for more details.

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, doughnuts, coffee, cold drinks, sweets. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World]

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 from the airport, 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 kms.

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 offers a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the motel direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab. An exciting new accommodation venue, Quest Port Adelaide, has recently opened only five minutes from the track. Quest Port Adelaide has modern studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments.

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