Menadue wins the final, Rudloff leads the series at Gillman

January 28, 2020 by Gillman Media

Kym Menadue/Eric Melton had a career-best win in the final, but with more consistent results in the heats, Shane/Rudloff/Scott Morris lead the series points after round one of the Sidecar Super Series at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night (25 January).

Three teams dominated the heats – Rudloff/Morris, Neale Hancock/Brendan Johnson and Dave Bottrell/Klae Hobbs – and they were tied on 14 points each at the end of the 20 heats. In their individual clashes, Rudloff beat Bottrell in heat six, Hancock beat Rudloff in heat 15 and Bottrell beat Hancock in heat 19.

Points were also close for a place in the last-chance semi-final with Menadue/Melton and Rick Stephens/Nick O’Brien on 11, Tom Adams/Alice Cox on 10 and Dean Hobbs/Glen Zaworski on 9. Just missing a place were Aaron Silvy/Jaron Silvy and Nathan Fleet/Ayrton Canning on 8.

Menadue and Stephens were always expected to qualify for either the final or semi-final, but a semi-final berth was a good result for both Adams and Hobbs.

Adams was making his first appearance for quite some time after health problems early last season, and considering his time out, and his inexperience in senior racing before that, he rode well and 10 points was a good return.

Hobbs also rode well, and he has stepped up a level in recent meetings. His bike seems to be handling better and he’s riding much smoother and getting the rewards for it. A semi-final berth ahead of Silvy and Fleet, who also rode well, better in fact than 8 points would indicate, is a good result for him. Heat ten went a long way towards deciding the semi-finalists as Adams led home Hobbs, Fleet and Silvy.

In the semi-final it looked like Stephens/O’Brien would be going through to the final as they led for most of the race, but Menadue/Melton put them under pressure as they rode side-by-side on the third lap, and Menadue was able to take the lead for a narrow win after Stephens went too wide on the last lap. Adams and Hobbs were close behind in third and fourth respectively in a good race.

The final wasn’t quite as good with the outsiders Menadue/Melton springing a minor surprise by leading all the way. Rudloff/Morris and Bottrell/Hobbs were side-by-side for the opening lap, ahead of Hancock/Johnson who had clipped Rudloff’s bike leaving the tapes and dropped back out of serious contention, but Bottrell suffered a flat tyre on the second lap which elevated Hancock to third place making the series points after round one: Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris 17, Neale Hancock/Brendan Johnson 16, Kym Menadue/Eric Melton 15, Dave Bottrell/Klae Hobbs 14, Rick Stephens/Nick O’Brien 11, Tom Adams/Alice Cox 10, Dean Hobbs/Glen Zaworski 9.

The supporting Flat Track Solos provided some close racing but despite a close heat race with Jake Mitchell, and another with Jesse Headland, Ned Faulkhead managed to go through the heats unbeaten only to lose by half-a-bike length to Mitchell in the final.

Full heat results are on the Gillman website under the Results tab.