Cameron Woodward spoils the party for Parks - December 2013

December 8, 2013 by Gillman Media

Mildura’s Cameron Woodward spoiled the party for Shane Parker at Gillman Speedway last night when he relegated Parker to second place in the CBS Bins South Australian Solo Championship after Shane had produced a vintage display to go through the heats unbeaten.

The victory was Woodward’s first in the South Australian Championship, and backed up the Victorian Championship he’d won the weekend before, but Parker’s second place was his eighth such result!

The championship was run in ideal weather and produced some brilliant racing, particularly from some of the lesser known names (to overseas or interstate readers) like Robert Medson and Jack Fallon, but everyone did their bit, and even Brock Gates who failed to score was in the thick of the action in most of his races.

Among the many highlights was an early contender for the race of the season, between Kyle Newman and teenage newcomer Jack Fallon in heat 12. A thrilling white-knuckle race for four laps with Newman home first by half a bike length.

Other highlights almost as good were:

Arlo Bugeja v Brodie Waters in heat one, with Waters leading for all but the last few metres when Bugeja got by him to open the night in high fashion.

Heat two was even better, with Robert Branford and Dakota North hard at it for the lead, only for Kyle Newman to get under both to win narrowly from Branford and Max Fricke with North a non-finisher after being relegated to last place.

And then sentimental crowd favourite Shane Parker lit the crowd up by passing Cameron Woodward on the third lap to win heat three.

Heat seven with Robert Medson and Kyle Newman side-by-side; Newman getting the win by a bike length. Medson then backed up by beating the Australian Under 21 champion Max Fricke in his next ride (heat 9) and was looking like an outside chance of a semi-final berth.
Medson was to the fore again in heat 14, dicing for the lead with Bugeja, ahead of North, until he clipped the fence and dropped back behind North. The win was a good one by Bugeja and ultimately decided the final berth for the semi-final.

After 20 mostly pretty good heat races the three direct qualifiers for the final were straight forward however, with Parker unbeaten on 15, Woodward on 14 and Newman on 13.

The qualifiers for the last chance semi-final were Branford 11, Justin Sedgmen 10, Fricke 10, and Bugeja on 9, beating North on a countback. Just missing out, along with North, were Medson and Fallon on 7, while the impressive Brodie Waters was next best both in points (4) and performance.

For the semi-final Branford took gate 1, Sedgmen 4, Fricke 2 and Bugeja 3, and when Sedgmen raced around the field through turns one and two to take lead onto the back straight the race looked to be his. But Branford chased him down and passed him on the second lap to take the win and his first-ever start in the state championship final.

The final was a minor anti-climax after the semi-final however. Parker took gate 1, Woodward 2, Branford 3 and Newman 4, and Parker marginally won the start and hopes were high of a clean-sweep by the local lad. Going into turn two they were almost four wide and Newman had switched to the inside and tried to push under Parker, but he only succeeded in partly slowing Parker’s momentum which was just enough for Woodward to grab the lead down the back straight, and there was no looking back from that point with Woodward leading all way from Parker, Branford and Newman.

The support events on the big 50 event programme were Sidecars and the Sailun Tyres Under 16 250/350cc Solo Championship.

The junior championship was dominated by 15-year-old Cooper Riordan from Mildura who not only won all of his races, but won them with ease. Riordan doesn’t turn 16 until the start of next season, but then Mildura should be in for some exciting racing with Riordan joining Fallon and Waters as the new generation of riders at the famous Aussie venue, along with Jordan Stewart and Declyn Adams who also both turn 16 next year.

Second in the junior championship went to Jimmy Jones (NSW, aged 14), from Brody Eves (Qld, 13) and Jett Muller (WA, 15). There were several who stood out amongst the non-finalists but Matthew Marson (WA, 13) in particular looked like one to watch in the future.

The Sidecars produced their usual exciting racing with Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding winning the final from Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, Mark Cossar/Daz Whetstone and Jason Hardy/Geoff Langdon.

The next meeting is the Paintmaster SA Gillman Sidecar Championship on 28 December.