South Australian Sidecar Championship features Australia’s best riders - January 2015

January 7, 2015 by Gillman Media

After two top-class Solo meetings, the Christmas/New Year feast of racing continues at Gillman Speedway this Saturday with the Sailun Tyres South Australian Sidecar Championship.

This is one of the most highly sought after, and hardest fought, trophies on the speedway calendar which always attracts an all-star line-up, and this season is no different with most of Australia’s leading riders competing including defending champion Mick Headland, the previous two winners, Mark Plaisted and Mark Mitchell, and the all-time record holder Darrin Treloar.

Treloar has won the title five times, but surprisingly not since 2009 so he is extra keen to make amends for that and extend his record number of wins to six.

Other past multiple championship winners in the line-up include Justin Plaisted, who is yet to win as a rider but was Treloar’s passenger in his five SA wins, and Warren Monson who is the current, and a five-times, Victorian champion.

Also in the line-up of 14 seeded riders are former Victorian Champion Byren Gates, Trent Headland, Arron Hartwig, Damien Niesche, Daniel Puddy, Jason Hardy, Rick Stephens and Tim Bichard.

Two additional riders will be decided by three qualifying races.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday night, 10 January 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:

Sailun Tyres South Australian Sidecar Championship:

Seeded riders: Timothy Bichard/Dale Knights, Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin (Vic), Jason Hardy/Adam Pascoe, Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, Mick Headland/Luke Smith, Trent Headland/Darryl Whetstone, Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding, Warren Monson/Matt Morgan (Vic), Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear, Justin Plaisted/Sam Harrison, Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony, Daniel Puddy/Luke Puddy, Richard Stephens/Darcy Risstrom (NSW), Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox (NSW)

Qualification races (2 to qualify, others go into reserves’ races): Ricky Fechner/Justin Richards, Dean Hobbs/Andy Westover, Klae Hobbs/P. Brush, Kym Menadue/Anthony Schulz, Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan, Aaron Silvy/Vanessa Cuthbert.

125cc Junior Solos (infield track): Faser Bowes, Hugh Evans, Mitchell Grech, Seth Pascoe, Nicholas Possingham, Jack Sadler, Angus Vandenberg.

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 24, minimum 15. Chance of rain. [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.

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