Full house for Gillman Opener - November 2013
November 2, 2013 by Gillman Media
The newly surfaced pits at Gillman Speedway will get put to good use on the opening night of the summer season (Saturday, 9 November) with a virtual full house of riders entered.
With two days to go before nominations close, there are already 22 Sidecars and 14 Solos entered.
“We are going to have to be right on top of our game if we want to finish this meeting around our target time of 10.30pm” Gillman Speedway manager David Parker said today.
“The number of nominations can still change of course, but at the moment we are looking at about 39 events to give everyone at least four rides, and that number could rise anyway if we run the 250/350cc Junior Solos, which won’t be decided until after the closing time for entries.”
“What has been decided is that with so many entries – I think this is the most we’ve had for an opening night – we will have to split both the Solos and Sidecars into Division 1 and 2 races, and that should result in some very close racing right through the night.”
Amongst the entries already received are the British riders Mark Cossar and Mick Cave who flew out of England yesterday and are due in Adelaide this weekend.
Also flying in from England in time for the opening meeting is exciting teenage Solo rider Max Fricke. Fricke’s debut season in Britain only finished last Monday when his team, Edinburgh Monarchs, went down by three points to Somerset in the Premier League Grand Final. Fricke, who is still in Scotland at the moment, is likely to be up against British Under 21 champion Robert Branford, Arlo Bugeja, Robert Medson and Sam Martin in the division 1 Solos.
As well as the British riders, the Sidecars will include the local big guns Mick Headland/Paul Waters, Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony, Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding and Victoria’s Warren Monson/Matt Morgan.
Plaisted, the current South Australian champion will be making his debut with a new passenger after the break-up of a successful partnership with young Sam Gilbert last season. Gilbert, who lives in New South Wales and had to travel to Gillman for each meeting last season, was unavailable this season so Plaisted quickly snapped up Angaston-based Brian Anthony. Anthony is new to speedway but has spent many years as a successful passenger in motocross racing and is the current State Champion.
Top photo: An unusual photo. British Sidecar rider Mick Cave and passenger Ben Goddard taking part in the Condor Ferries British Sand Ace Championship on the beach at Vazon Bay, Guernsey, in June. Photo Andrew Le Poidevin [www.guernseymotorsport.com] (C) 2013.
Last season’s leading two riders in the Grand Slam Sidecar Series, Darrin Treloar (left) and Mark Plaisted. The two contested a run-off to decide the winner of the series, which Plaisted won. Unusually both have now changed passengers for the 2013/14. Treloar’s situation is similar to Plaisted’s. He’s had Victorian-based Simon Cohrs on board for the last two seasons, but Cohrs is unavailable because of increased work commitments, so Treloar’s new passenger is fellow New South Welshman, Blake Cox. Cox comes from a family with a strong speedway background. His father Glenn is passenger for NSW star Grant Bond, and his brother Brady is passenger for Bond’s son Hayden. Photo courtesy of Paul Galloway, All Action Motorsport Photography.