Justin Sedgmen dominates SA Solo Championship

Gillman Media 18 December 2023

Justin Sedgmen regained the South Australian Solo Championship, which he last held in 2022, with a dominant performance at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night.

Sedgmen, as the only previous winner in the line-up, and after a good season in the UK, was the pre-meeting favourite, and the heat races only strengthened that favouritism as he was in top form and was never challenged on his way to a 15 point maximum.

Joining Sedgmen as direct qualifiers to the winner-takes-all final were Fraser Bowes (runner-up to Sedgmen in 2022) and Jack Morrison (third last season).

Bowes finished with 13 points and always looked likely to reach the final, however the likely third qualifier chopped and changed during the night.

After three rides each Michael West was looking good for that spot with 8 points, including a win over Bowes in heat 10, and his only dropped point was to Sedgmen, but then things went slightly awry for him in heat 15 when he only finished third behind Jack Morrison and Jake Turner.

Morrison had also been on 8 points after three rides (also only beaten by Sedgmen) so this result firmly swung things in his favour for a place in the final. Morrison was up against Bowes and Dayle Wood in heat 17 and starting from gate four. He dropped down to the inside line in turn one, but after a mediocre night, Wood rode his best race of the night and he held off all of Morrison’s attempts to pass. That left Morrison on 12 points, a score West could equal with a win in his last ride, but a quick scan of the scorecard showed Morrison would win any countback on the basis of the finishing order in that vital heat 15.

The countback wasn’t necessary, however, as West was beaten by Brayden McGuinness in a close race in heat 20.

That left both West and McGuinness on 11 points, 1 point short of a place in the final. Like West, McGuinness had a couple of chances to make the final but couldn’t quite manage it. He opened in sensational style when he led Bowes all the way in heat 4 and from the spectator area appeared to have won, but the referee said Bowes got up on the line by the thickness of a knob on the tyre, and transponder times showed Bowes got home by one-thousandth of a second. That last few centimetres was crucial as had McGuinness held on he would have gone into the final on countback instead of Bowes. He did also drop another unexpected point, in heat 10, when Arlo Bugeja led McGuinness and Matt Marson home, but by that time that point would not have put him into the final, as, like West, he would have also lost to Morrison on a countback as Morrison beat him when they met in heat 6.

Bugeja doesn’t ride any more, but occasionally answers the call to make up the numbers, if required, in major events like this, and he was in surprisingly good form. He started with a good ride to finish a relatively close third behind Sedgmen and West, but ahead of Dayle Wood, but the thought was he’d tire as the night went on. Instead he remained on the pace and finished with two heat wins to grab a place in the semi-final with McGuinness, West and Jake Turner.

Turner, the runner-up to Rory Schlein last season, started the night okay, with a win and a close second to Bowes, but things went wrong in his third ride when he missed the start very badly and then fell while in second place behind McGuinness. He remounted for a consolation point but the odds were then against him going straight into the final, especially as he still had to meet Sedgmen, and he was subsequently beaten by both Morrison and Sedgmen to finish with 10 points.

Just missing out on a place in the semi-final were Patrick Hamilton on 9 (beaten by Bugeja on countback), Wood (8) and Marson (7).

The Semi-Final saw West in red, McGuinness in blue, Bugeja in white and Turner in yellow, and it was Turner on the high line who blasted in the lead and led all the way to make the final. In a close race McGuinness finished second, West third and Bugeja fourth.

In the Final, Sedgmen, who always takes yellow at Gillman, took red, Bowes blue, Morrison white and Turner yellow, and again it was Turner who blasted into the lead on the high line. Bowes also made a good start to get ahead of Sedgmen in the run to the first turn and Sedgmen looked to be in trouble as he battled with Morrison to get out of last place. He got past Morrison by the end of the first lap but Turner was looking the likely winner and Sedgmen still had to get past Bowes before even thinking about Turner. But Sedgmen was a class above the rest on the night and by the end of lap two he was in front and racing away to the championship victory.

Turner continued to have Bowes’ measure and held second place, but as in his race with McGuinness, Bowes’ determination to race to the final centimetre again paid dividends and he got the nod again in a photo finish for second. Morrison finished fourth but it was the third time in 12 months he has made a state final, and therefore is eligible for a work permit to the UK, so it is interesting that there haven’t been any offers of a team place (that we know of). Perhaps, if he wants to ride overseas, he’ll have to follow the route of most Aussies these days and go to Denmark and Poland.

In the support events Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski had a clean sweep in the Sidecar races, winning all four of their heats and the final, although they had to work for it at times as there was some close racing between them, Dean Hobbs/Daniel Low, Josh Pascoe/Greg Black and Nathan Fleet/Cameron Diwell. The best race was heat seven when Pascoe/Black led throughout, hugged the pole line through the last corner and looked like inflicting Silvy/Zaworski’s first defeat but Silvy somehow managed to push Pascoe out on the run to the line to take the win. Silvy/Zaworski then led all the way in the final to win ahead of Pascoe/Black, Stephen Fowler/Jeremy Sherwood, and Fleet/Diwell. Fleet was holding second place but suffered a missed gear problem before he had a chance to mount a challenge.

Jake Mitchell also clean-sheeted in the Flat Track Solo class. Shane Church was the second highest scorer, and David Footner the third highest, and they also finished in that order behind Mitchell in the final for the top six scorers.

In the Under 16 250cc Solo events, visiting Victorian Angus Hume (Vic) was still finding his way on the 250, so all the action was between Ashley Jansen-Batchelor and Harry Sadler. Jansen-Batchelor won the first two heats but then Sadler won the other two heats and the final.

A fourth rider to ride unbeaten was Mildura’s Blake Schlein in the Under 16 125cc Junior Solo Races. Schlein, who also won the Mick Hargreaves Memorial at the Sidewinders track the previous night, beat Kobi Canning, Hayden Pascoe and Riley Stout in the final.