Something different at Gillman Speedway this Saturday afternoon - March 2015
March 11, 2015 by Gillman Media
There will be something different at Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway this weekend with the club running the Gillman Flat Track Masters on Saturday afternoon (14 March).
This is for dirt track bikes and came about after the bikes were trialled at a couple of winter meetings and proved they can be entertaining on a conventional speedway track — see the programme cover pic of Mildura’s Nic Waters below in action at one of the winter meetings.
The feature class will be the Pro 450 Solos with a strong line-up of 23 riders from South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
Based on his previous appearance Nic Waters will be the one to watch but he’ll have some serious opposition especially from Paul Caslick (NSW) who is a 13-times Australian Dirt Track and Long Track Champion. Fellow NSW rider Logan Coombe was also impressive at the winter meetings, as were Luke Mitchell and Kane Turner. Regular speedway riders Brodie Waters, Brock Gates and Robert Medson should also be prominent, while a couple of riders who will add extra interest in the meeting are the Port Pirie veteran David Footner, who was always a star on the old Pirie half-mile track, and Red Bull Rookie Moto GP rider Olly Simpson.
Logan, Gates and Simpson will also contest the Pro 250 class in which their opposition will include Jake Mitchell and Daniel Mitchell, who both did well in the winter meetings, and Cooper Riordan who won the President’s Trophy meeting at Gillman last weekend.
As well as the racing there will be several demonstration events, with the most interesting being Nic Waters on the replica Kenny Roberts USA Flat Track 750 Yamaha as detailed on the Gillman Speedway website earlier in the week.
Paul Caslick will also be holding at Coaching Clinic at Gillman on Friday night.
Everything You Need To Know:
Meeting Date: Saturday afternoon, 14 March 2015.
Venue: Gillman Speedway Stadium, 65 Wilkins Road, Gillman – near the Port Adelaide area.
Gates open: Rear (Eastern) Gate 10 am to 2 pm. Front (Western) Gate 1 pm to 5 pm. Canteen open from 11 am, hot food 12pm to finish.
Racing starts: at 3 pm. (Machine Examination 11 am to 1 pm; Practice 1 pm to 2 pm)
Format: All classes have five heat races plus a final.
Riders:
Pro 450 Solos (24) : 1 Brodie Waters (Vic), 3 Paul Caslick (NSW), 7 Tony Lynch, 8 Julian Timmis, 9 Robert Medson, 11 David Footner, 19 Lincoln Tucker, 20 Brad Lawler, 40 Luke Mitchell, 42 Logan Coombe (NSW), 44 Douglas Hayden, 45 Olly Simpson, 52 Nicholas Waters (Vic), 81 Nick Doulos, 98 Kane Turner, 99 Brock Gates (Vic), 100 Carson Davies, 159 Clayton Tilbrook, 181 John White, 273 Dale Knights, 340 Kyle Tuppurainen (Vic), 426 Brenton Kerr (Vic), 521 Jordan Giddings (Vic), 672 Troy Knights, 777 Matthew Ambrose
Pro 250 Solos (11) : 11 Thomas Adams, 16 Kara Footner, 18 Jake Mitchell, 45 Olly Simpson, 51 Cooper Riordan (Vic), 55 Logan Coombe (NSW), 67 Daniel Mitchell, 81 Luke Bacskai, 312 Dylan McKenzie, 521 Jordan Giddings (Vic), 571 Brock Gates (Vic)
Pre ’85 Solos (6) : 05 David Footner, 18 Jake Mitchell, 33 Rob Hayden, 40 Luke Mitchell, 44 Douglas Hayden, 67 Daniel Mitchell
Junior Solos age 13-U16 150cc 2 stroke/250cc 4 stroke (5) : 19 Brayden McGuinness, 45 Mitch Simpson, 283 Brad Lohmann (Vic), 440 Ned Faulkhead (Vic), 703 Chelsea Marley-Duncan
Junior Solos age 9 – U13 85cc 2 stroke/150cc 4 stroke (9) : 5 Kyle Machin, 26 Dustin Doolan (Vic), 28 Mateusz Ball, 33 Jordy Simpson, 56 Casey Marley-Duncan, 113 Brayden Bowes (NSW), 321 Layne Riordan (Vic), 623 Maddison Busch (Vic), 707 Sampson Rawle
Junior Solos age 9 – U13 65cc (4) : 5 Kyle Machin, 14 Liam May, 41 Jackson Milner (Vic), 56 Casey Marley-Duncan 50cc Demonstrations (4) : 11 Harry Sadler, 22 Cameron Brooks, 81 Darcey Timmis, 708 Jye Silvy
Admission: Adults $20, Age Pension and Student Concession $15, Children Under 16 free. Programme $5. Parking free. Concession is limited Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only.
Weather Forecast: Maximum 29, 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
