Sidecar stars return to Gillman Speedway for dyovest.com Grand Slam - March 2015

March 18, 2015 by Gillman Media

The nation’s best Sidecar riders return to Gillman Speedway this Saturday night (21 March) for round four of the dyovest.com Sidecar Grand Slam Series.

One of the biggest crowds of the season witnessed a thrilling, and extremely unpredictable, night’s racing when the Grand Slam was last at Gillman in January and more of the same can be expected on Saturday night in what will be the last appearance of the season for the Sidecar stars.

After winning the last round, and then the Oceania Championship, current Australian Champions Darrin Treloar and Blake Cox will start as favourites but Mick Headland, Mark Plaisted, Justin Plaisted, Warren Monson and Mark Mitchell are keen to get a win over Treloar as a confidence booster going into the forthcoming Australian Championship in Alice Springs at Easter time.

In-form local riders Daniel Puddy, Shane Rudloff and Arron Hartwig are also keen to carry on their recent winning form and reach the semi-final or final stage against stronger opposition.

Other riders in the field include Kiwi Andrew Buchanan, who finished second in the New Zealand Championship in Auckland last weekend, and former South Australian champion Dave Bottrell, making a rare appearance in his former hometown. Bottrell, who now lives in Townsville, has not ridden much in recent years because of injury, but proved he is still more than a match for anybody by finishing second to Treloar in the final of last season’s Australian Championship.

Saturday night will be an all-sidecar meeting of 30 events, with a Solo feature, a round of the Heffernan Motorsport Solo Series, to close the season on 11 April. The Heffernan meeting will be a daytime meeting.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday night, 21 March 2015.

Venue: Gillman Speedway Stadium, 65 Wilkins Road, Gillman – near the Port Adelaide area.

Gates open: at 5 pm.

Racing starts: at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits for a close look at the bikes until approximately 6.30 pm.

Riders/Passengers:

Sidecar Grand Slam: David Bottrell/Ben Pitt (Qld), Andrew Buchanan/Denny Cox (NZ/NSW), Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin (Vic), Jason Hardy/Adam Pascoe, Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, Mick Headland/Jesse Headland, Trent Headland/Darryl Whetstone, Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding, Warren Monson/Matt Morgan (Vic/SA), Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear, Rob Patterson/Brenton Kerr (Vic), Justin Plaisted/Sam Harrison, Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony, Daniel Puddy/Luke Puddy, Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan, Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox (NSW)

Support Sidecars : Tim Bichard/Anthony Schulz, Chris Dess/Steve Behsmann (Vic), Brenton Dwyer/Tom Adams, Dean Hobbs/Andy Westover, Kym Menadue/Eric Melton, Ron Parker/Jarred Edey, Brian Silvy/Josh Knott, Darryll Woods/Will Walker

Grand Slam Series Sponsor: www.dyo.vest.com

www.dyovest.com is a new and innovative web based design tool, powered by longstanding speedway supporter Blackchrome Sportswear, which puts customers in the driver’s seat when they need to purchase customised vests for their workplace, sports events or general purpose activity. In just a few steps customers can create customised vests on their PC, mobile or tablet device.

Gillman Round 4 Sponsor: Sailun Tyres

Sailun Tyres are a high quality tyre from one of the most technically advanced tyre manufacturers in China. In 2002 several well-known corporations and experts in the tyre industry invested and established Sailun with technological support from the rubber industry and Qingdao University of Science and Technology. Sailun is the first tyre manufacturer to integrate production, research and demonstration techniques, while developing new products, and many experts in the tyre industry have come to Sailun to improve their tyre design theory, technique and test methods.

Admission:

Adults $25, Age Pension and Student Concession $20, Children aged 12-15 $5, Children under 12 free. Family $55. Programme $5. Parking free.

Concession is limited Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only. A family ticket covers 2 adults and children under 16.

Weather Forecast: Maximum 27, minimum 13. Sunny. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]

Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop including the latest Blackchrome manufactured shirts and jackets. Eftpos available only in the souvenir shop.

Food and drink: Full bar and catering available. Food includes hot chips, hamburgers, chicken burgers, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, Chiko Rolls, dim sims, hot dogs, doughnuts, coffee, cold drinks, sweets. Please note a condition of our liquor licence is no byo alcohol or glass can be brought into the venue. Also note no pets, other than guide dogs, are allowed into the venue. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World, February 2015]

Seating: There are large terraced and grassed viewing mounds and but no grandstand seating, so bring deck chairs or blankets if you do not want to sit on the grass.

Directions:

The best way to get to Gillman Speedway is off Hanson Road.

If you are coming from the eastern and southern suburbs, get on to Hanson road off Torrens Road or Grand Junction Road, travel north on Hanson road over the train line then take the first road on the left, which is Wilkins road.

From the northern suburbs, travel down the new Port Adelaide expressway and take the Hanson Road exit. Once on Hanson Road, take the first exit on your right, this is Wilkins road.

From the western suburbs, Wilkins Road is the continuation of Bedford Street, north of Eastern Parade.

For interstate visitors flying into Adelaide and getting a hire car, Gillman is about 20kms, and 30 minutes’ drive (depending on traffic lights) from the airport.

The easiest and most direct way, if not going to your accommodation first is:

On leaving the airport, turn left onto Sir Donald Bradman Drive. Continue along Sir Donald Bradman Drive until you reach the end of the airports grounds and turn right onto Tapleys Hill Road. Once you are on Tapleys Hill Road you can’t really go wrong. You only have to make three or four turns and most of those are simple. Just keep going on Tapleys Hill Road until you can’t go any further. That’s Port Road. Turn left onto Port Road. You can only turn left, you can’t go straight ahead or turn right, so pretty easy to this point. Continue down Port Road for about 1 km to the first intersection which is Grand Junction road and turn right. You only go 700 metres along Grand Junction Road over a bridge over a railway line. Stay in the left lane because at the bottom of the bridge you turn left into Gray Terrace. Go to the end of Gray Terrace (there is a slight detour along Gray Terrace at the moment) and turn right (you can’t go straight ahead) onto Bedford Street. Just keep going on that Road until you get to the speedway. About 2 kms.

Accommodation:

There is plenty of accommodation in Adelaide and suburbs, within 20-30 minutes of the Speedway, ranging from five star hotels to caravan parks and backpacker hostels. The Pavlos Motel on Main North Road, Pooraka; and the Mawson Lakes Hotel and Function Centre, Main Street, Mawson Lakes, are offering a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the venues direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab.

Contact for this meeting: Speedway Manager, David Parker 0403 364 658