Monson and Summerhayes back up with Oceania Championship win - April 2017

April 9, 2017 by Gillman Media

Warren Monson and Andrew Summerhayes backed up their World Cup win, with victory in the Oceania Championship at Gillman Speedway tonight.

Monson/Summerhayes were unbeaten at Gillman to finish the series with 33 points. Andrew Buchanan/Denny Cox finished second with 30 points, and Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox third with 29.

Buchanan/Cox went into the meeting leading the series by two points from Treloar/Cox after the first round at Undera Park Speedway in Victoria, but that lead was gone after the very first heat at Gillman when Treloar won and Buchanan was relegated to third place by fellow Kiwi Jamie Moohan, to level the points at 18 each.

Treloar and Buchanan both won their second rides to still be level on 21 points, but Treloar took the overall lead by one point after the next bracket of heats when he won he remained unbeaten but Buchanan dropped a point to Trent Headland.

Treloar, Headland and Monson were all unbeaten at that stage, and Headland and Monson continued their unbeaten run with wins in their fourth rides but Treloar dropped a valuable point to reserve Mark Plaisted.

As fate would have it Treloar, Headland and Monson were all drawn to meet in a highly anticipated heat 17, with Monson and Treloar now level on 26, a point ahead of Buchanan on 25, but in a massive let-down Treloar broke a chain on the way to the tapes and he was excluded for exceeding the two-minute time allowance. In his absence Monson scored an unexpectedly easy win over Headland (after Headland led on the first lap) and virtually sealed the championship victory barring any misfortune in the final.

Points going into the final were Monson 29, Buchanan 28, Treloar 26 and Headland 23. For spectators, the perfect result in the final would have been Treloar-Headland-Buchanan-Monson, which would have left Treloar, Buchanan and Monson tied on 30 points, but it was not to be as Monson led all the way to clinch a six ride maximum score and with it the 2017 Oceania Championship.