South Australian Sidecar Championship at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night
March 6, 2018 by Gillman Media
One of the hardest fought events, and most highly sought after trophies, on the speedway calendar — the Nankang Tyres South Australian Sidecar Championship — will be held at the Gillman Speedway Stadium this Saturday night, 10 March.
An all-star line-up will contest the championship including four former winners, Mick Headland, Dave Bottrell, Mark Plaisted and Mark Mitchell.
In total twelve riders have been seeded into the Championship heats, which will start at 7.30pm, with another four to be decided by time trials between 5 and 5.30pm. The fastest four riders will qualify for the championship heats, and the non-qualifiers will go into support races making a 28 event programme.
The Championship winner is impossible to pick with any confidence, with most of the seeded riders a realistic chance of winning.
Of the four previous winners, Mick Headland is a three-time champion, and a twice World Track Racing Champion, and if he can win on Saturday night he will move to outright second on the all-time winners’ list.
He’s been in good form this season, after an injury interrupted season last year, but so have the other seeded riders.
Two other former winners, Mark Plaisted and Mark Mitchell, have both been finalists in the rounds of the Nankang Tyres/Mitch Chassis Super Series, which has included the highest eight placed riders in last season’s Australian Championship, as have current Australian Champion Trent Headland and Kiwi star Andrew Buchanan.
Buchanan was runner-up to Trent Headland in the Australian Championship and led Headland and Plaisted home to win this season’s Victorian Championship, but the difficulty of winning the SA Championship is highlighted by the fact Buchanan and Headland have never been on the top three rostrum in the event.
The other former winner, Dave Bottrell, who now lives in Townsville, was the most successful local rider in the title in the modern era before a major crash in 2008 put him out of the sport for several years, but he was a finalist again last season and recently won the Iron Triangle Masters at Whyalla.
Similarly, Riverland rider Arron Hartwig has been a finalist for the last two seasons, and this season has won the Gates Sidecar Cup at Mildura, and the Gillman track championship.
The other seeded riders are former Victorian Champion Byren Gates, fellow Mildura rider Neale Hancock, former New Zealand number two Jamie Moohan, Shane Rudloff and Kym Menadue. These riders are all capable of beating any of the other riders and winning some heats but the question will be if they can string together enough points to reach the semi-final or final? It is possible as Rudloff proved in 2015 when he came into the championship through the qualifying events, and went through to not only reach the semi-final but to win it and go into the final.
If you are a Sidecar fan this is a meeting you can’t afford to miss!
An early arrival will also ensure you get a copy of the souvenir programme which includes seven pages covering the history of the event back to 1947, and full colour action photos of all 23 competitors. The programme will also be available to download from the Gillman Speedway website from Friday.
Photo: Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt (red), Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr (blue), Jamie Moohan/Bayley Ogilvie (white), Neale Hancock/Brock Gates (yellow). Photo by Mike Gerlach JDM Photos.
Everything You Need To Know:
Meeting Date: Saturday, 10 March 2018.
Venue: Gillman Speedway Stadium, 65 Wilkins Road, Gillman – near the Port Adelaide area.
Gates open: Eastern gate (near pits) open from 3pm; Western (main) gate from 5 pm. The Eastern gate will close at 8pm. Off-street parking areas near both gates.
Racing starts: Qualifying time trials at 5pm; Championship heats at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits before Qualifying, and between Qualifying and the Championship.
Sidecar Riders/Passengers:
Seeded: 1-Trent Headland/Darryl Whetstone (SA/Vic), 14-Kym Menadue/Eric Melton (SA), 14p-Jamie Moohan/Ayrton Canning (NZ/SA), 15-Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan (SA), 27-Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig (SA), 35-Mark Mitchell/Tony Carter (SA/NZ), 36-Dave Bottrell/Luke Puddy (Qld/SA), 39-Andrew Buchanan/Denny Cox (NZ/NSW), 50-Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin (Vic), 68-Neale Hancock/Brock Gates (Vic), 75-Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt (SA/Vic), 107-Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr (SA/Vic).
Format: 16 riders x 20 heats plus a last chance semi-final and a final. The 4th to 7th highest scorers go into the semi-final; and the winner of the semi-final and the three highest scorers from the 20 heats go into the final.
Qualifying (5pm): 5-Mick Cave/Bradley Steer (Eng), 6-Reece Liptrott/Andy Gajek (WA), 11-Thomas Adams/Belinda Silvy (SA), 12-Brian Silvy/Cameron White (SA), 21-Aaron Silvy/Jaron Speyer-Silvy (SA), 22-Stephen Fowler/Benny Goodridge (SA), 31-Darryll Woods/Will Walker (SA), 57-Chris Bichard/Brett Lewis (SA), 89-Nathan Fleet/Glen Zaworski (SA), 970-Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards (SA).
Format: Time trials, fastest four go into the Championship heats; the others go into support races.
Solos 125cc Under 16 on infield track : 04-Angus van den Berg (SA), 41-Jackson Milner (Vic), 47-Nicholas Possingham (SA), 80-Patrick Bowes (SA).
Sidecar 250cc Under 16 on infield track : 3-Harry Hearne/Nate Headland (Vic/SA), 5-Keenan Murphy/Joshua McQuade (WA), 15-Mike Sheather/Kayden Gates (Vic), 28-Clay Burnett/Kaidyn Silvy (SA), 41-Jackson Milner/Adam Niesche (Vic/SA).
Admission: Adults $25, Age Pension & Student Concession $20, Children aged 12-15 $5, Under 12 free, Family $55. Parking free. Programme $5. Grandstand free.
Concession is limited to holders of the Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession card holders only. A family ticket covers 2 adults and children under 16.
Seating: Grandstand seating, large grassed viewing mounds and terracing suitable for deck chairs.
VIP Area: The V.I.P. area is available to anyone who would like to treat their business colleagues, family or friends to the best view of motorcycle speedway action in Australia. Spectators can enjoy the elevated view overlooking the track, either from inside the temperature controlled room, on the timber decks, or the enclosed lawn area, for a very reasonable price per person. A fully stocked bar and a variety of food to suit all budgets is available and you can book the whole room or part thereof. Ring Gillman Speedway Manager David Parker on 0403 364 658 or e-mail dave@gillmanspeedway.com for more details.
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. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World]
Bar facilities available but please note a condition of our liquor licence is no byo alcohol or glass can be brought into the venue.
Pets: No pets, other than guide dogs, are allowed into the venue.
Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop. Eftpos available in the souvenir shop. Souvenirs can also be purchased online (see the Shop tab on the Gillman Speedway website).
Weather Forecast (as at 6/3/18): Maximum 35, minimum 22. Sunny. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]
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 from the airport, 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 airport 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, 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 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 offers a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the motel direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab.
Live results: download the MYLAPS Speedhive app to your phone or tablet. Free to view. Gillman programme also available to download from the Gillman Speedway website (under the Shop tab) for $5.50 payable by credit card or PayPal.
Contact for this meeting: Speedway Manager, David Parker 0403 364 658