Gillman Speedway Classic Championships - October 2014

October 26, 2014 by Gillman Media

The Gillman Speedway Classic Championships produced a mixed bag of results last night, with some runaway victories in the Solos, but some surprise results in a couple of the Sidecar finals after the favourites struck mechanical failure.

The first championship to be decided was the JAP/ESO Solo class for riders aged over 45 (down from 50 in previous years) and this was dominated by Kevin Webb. With fellow Western Australian, and 2012 winner Barry Kennington out injured, and no Evolution class this year, regular two and four valve rider Webb decided to ride in the JAP/ESO class and he won all of the races by big margins. Last year’s winner, Peter Collins, and runner-up, Keith Pilcher, had some close races for the minor placings, and it was Pilcher who finished second in the final, with 74-year-old Jim Phillips (the 1965 WA Champion) third after Collins had a terrible final. First he touched the tapes, so was put back 15 metres for the restart, and then he fell in turn two. He quickly remounted with the thought he might still get third place but his steel shoe had come off in the fall. Having just had a major foot operation in September he wasn’t willing to take the risk of continuing in the race without the steel shoe so went to the infield. Phillips’ third place was a worthy reward, however, for some good rides on the night and his gating was particularly sharp.

The Two Valve Solo Championship followed a similar pattern to the JAP/ESO class with Roy Stout dominating and Kevin Webb and Seane Chapman scrapping for second and third, although Chapman did throw some serious challenges at Stout in a couple of heats, particularly heat 3 when they were side-by-side for the first two laps, and it was Chapman who finished second to Stout in the final with Webb third. The win was Stout’s sixth in the last eight years, and he finished runner-up (to Merv Janke) in the other two years.

The first of the Sidecar Championships was the Japanese class and this was the only Sidecar class which included a former winner, and it was that rider, defending champion Mick Tucker, and passenger Anthony Diener, who went through the card unbeaten despite riding the lowest powered bike, a 500cc Suzuki. While Tucker was unbeaten in the heats to top score with 9 points, there was a crowded scorecard to determine the other three finalists, with fellow former Rowley Parker rider Steve Lewis (passenger Tanya Moon) on 6, Tim Bichard/Dale Knights and Aaron Silvy/Blake Ridley on 5, and Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan and Graham Thomson/Shayne Thomson on 4. Rudloff and Thomson were obviously the two to miss out, and both might consider themselves unlucky as both missed a heat with bike trouble. New South Wales rider Greg Griffiths looked quick when he was going but ended up pointless after he flipped coming out of the tapes and landed heavily in heat 1; had bike trouble near the end of his second ride while in a wheel-to-wheel race with Rudloff and Lewis; and had bike trouble again when leading his third ride. In the final Tucker jumped into the lead and looked the likely winner but current day rider Aaron Silvy surprised by passing Tucker to take the lead. Tucker regained the lead on the next lap but Silvy was challenging for the lead again when the bike suddenly stopped and tipped onto its side – a broken chain looked like the cause. Steve Lewis had to swing off the track to avoid him, but with Tim Bichard having already retired earlier in the race, Lewis was awarded second place and Silvy got the third place sash.

The British Sidecar Championship saw the first of the two surprise results in the finals after Peter Tolley/Ezra Buzzard-Allen completely dominated the heats on one of Jon Heaviside’s Vincents only to suffer a broken rear axle at the tapes in the final. With the bike stuck on the track after the back wheel came out, the race had to be restarted and it was another former Rowley Park duo Geoff Baran/Ken Cherrington who shot into the lead. The crowd was right behind, cheering the Norton onto victory over the remaining Vincents, but Rory McEnroe/Tony Kavanti took the lead on the second lap and shortly thereafter Baran cut a corner and was excluded which unfortunately cost him his second place finish and elevated Doug Cotterell/Stuart Williams to second and Clinton Crabb/Jarred Edey to third.

The Post Classic & Evolution Sidecar Championship was to feature Darrin Treloar on his late father Garry’s bike, but much to the crowd’s disappointment, and no doubt Treloar’s, he had machine trouble in his first two rides and consequently did not qualify for the final. The other riders would have been relieved, however, because the one race Treloar did complete was five seconds faster than the next race won by Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts, who assumed favouritism once Treloar was out. Donnelly had scored 7 wins and a tape exclusion at the two previous winter meetings, and then won all three heats last night to go into the final a hot favourite, but like Peter Tolley in the British class, it all went awry in the final. As expected he took the early lead but then appeared to have gear change problems going into turn three and was relegated to last place in turn four. He managed to get back into third place but couldn’t catch Clinton Crabb/Jarred Edey and Keith Bichard/Derick Thomas who were having one of the best scraps of the night up front. The winner remained in doubt until the very end but it was Bichard/Thomas, urged on by an enthusiastic crowd, who got up for the win.

There was one other section on the programme, the Three Quarter Midgets, but they are only allowed to do demonstration runs. Nevertheless they got quite willing at times especially Bob Holland and John Catford.

The lucky programme prize of The Ride Of Your Life — a ride on the back of one of Jon Heaviside’s Vincent Sidecars ridden by Darrin Treloar — was won by Paul Wilkins, and there could not have been a more worthy winner as Paul spent many years researching and writing a book called The Vincent and HRD Story in South Australia many years ago.

The Bruce Kelley Trophy for outstanding service at Gillman Speedway went to Classic Speedway stalwart Ron Smith.