Entertaining opening night at Gillman Speedway
14 November, 2021 by Gillman Media
Rain brought a premature end to what had been an entertaining opening night at Gillman Speedway last night (13 November).
The weather during the week had been terrible – Thursday was the coldest November day since 1994 and wild weather downed trees and knocked out power in some areas — and the forecast wasn’t good with a 70% chance of rain forecast for Friday and Saturday, but come raceday and the weather was ideal all day. No rain and even reasonably warm when the gates opened.
After the regular “little kid” events for Pee Wees, 50cc and Novice 125cc riders at 6 p.m., the meeting got underway at 7 p.m. with a good opening race as Kiwi Jake Turner took it right up to track champion Dakota Ballantyne in the first Solo heat.
The racing continued in the same vein with good racing and upset results, and anticipation was building for some exciting finals when the heavens opened after event nineteen and the rest of the meeting was canned.
It was a disappointing end to a good night, but most people would have gone home buoyed by the thought we are in for a good season based on last night’s racing.
Back to the racing reports and, as mentioned, the opening race saw an all-the-way battle between Turner and Ballantyne before Ballantyne took the win. Behind them Steve Graetz and Arlo Bugeja were having their own battle for third with Graetz grabbing the upper hand only in the last corner. Ballantyne also won heat two (which did not include Turner), but Turner reversed the heat one result with an all-the-way win in heat three to deprive Ballantyne of an unbeaten night. Turner also won heat four (without Ballantyne) to leave both riders on 8 points from their completed rides. Graetz and Bugeja had another great scrap in this race and were side-by-side at the finish with Bugeja getting the nod from the judge this time. Robert Branford was the other rider in the main group but he failed to score with two crashes and a retirement in his three rides.
In the Solo Group 2 races, Blake Ridley was the top rider, although Teagan Pedler, who had some close races with Shaun Sampson for the minor places, did get the better of Ridley for a well-ridden race win in heat two.
The Sidecars provided some thrilling racing and some surprise results, none more so than heat four. On paper the result looked likely to be Menadue-Spear-Adams-Fowler but for most of the race it was the reverse order until Spear got under Adams on the last lap for a Fowler-Spear-Adams-Menadue result. Prior to the rain-off Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris were unbeaten, but with the benefit of an extra ride, comeback rider Tom Adams, with Michael ‘Dinga” Bell on the side, was the top scorer with 7 points, ahead of Rudloff/Morris and Fowler/Ben Goodridge on 6. One of last year’s top duos, Kym Menadue/Eric Melton were surprisingly only on 2 points after their two rides, so it is looking good for a close and unpredictable season of Sidecar racing.
In the Flat Track Solos there was no surprise at the top with former international Solo rider Nigel Sadler unbeaten, but he was made to work for it last night as 16-year-old Kyle Machin took it right up to him and they were side-by-side during one of their races. That rivalry will be something to look forward to during the season as Machin gets more and more experience in the senior ranks. Behind them Seane Chapman and Sean Curtis had their own rivalry going on, while there was nothing much between Steve Batchelor, Julian Timmis, Dale Knights and John White who figured in some close finishes.
