Countdown to the biggest week in Sidecar history - April 2017

April 2, 2017 by Gillman Media

Following last night’s meeting, the countdown is on to the biggest week of Sidecar racing at any single track in history, with the FIM Speedway Sidecar World Cup, FIM Oceania Championship, and the Nankang Tyres Australian Championship all at Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway over a nine day period, from 8 to 16 April.

The first event is the World Cup this Saturday night, 8 April, followed by the Oceania Championship the next night, Sunday, 9 April. Practice for the riders in these two events will be this Friday night, starting at 6pm with free entry to the public.

There is another free event for the public on the following Friday (Good Friday, 14 April) with the Festival of Speed from 10am to 4pm. This was a very popular event last season with crowds of people coming in throughout the day to view the static displays of modern and classic motor racing motorcycles and cars.

The Australian Sidecar Championship will be on Saturday, 15 April and Sunday, 16 April which will be the last meeting of the season.

Full details of the meetings including the riders, times and admission prices can be found by clicking the + sign against the dates on the Calendar page of the Gillman Speedway website.

Last night’s Gillman meeting featured seven riders who will be competing in the Australian Championship meetings and the riders who stood out were Mark Plaisted, Tyler Moon and Dave Bottrell.

Plaisted/Ben Pitt dropped just one point in six rides, when they were beaten by Bottrell/Ant Diener in heat six, while Moon/Adam Lovell were only beaten by Plaisted (twice) but dropped a further three points when they spun on the last lap of heat five while holding good lead over Plaisted.

Although Bottrell/Diener only picked up two wins, they were on the same pace as Plaisted and Moon and all three could figure high in the placings in the Australian Championship. Bottrell actually beat Plaisted twice last night but was excluded from the opening race for going infield.

Mick Headland made his first appearance at Gillman after missing most of the season with a hand injury and was well in the mix in the early laps of each race but tailed off a bit towards the end of the races. His best ride was a win in his rider of the night heat after a thrilling race with Shane Rudloff and Stephen Saunders.

Rudloff/Scott Morris, Hamish Golding/Bayley Ogilvie and Clint Mayes/Sean Coleby all rode well and will be a danger to any of the more highly rated riders in the championship qualifying meeting if those riders are not in top form.

In the supporting Solo events, 16-year-old first season rider Brayden McGuinness had a night of mixed fortunes. After Robert Medson went through the card unbeaten in the previous meeting, McGuinness won all four of the scratch races against Medson and Seth Hickey in fine style, only to finish the night on a disappointing note when his bike would not start for the handicap race.

Top photo: Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt. Photo by Judy Mackay.