Speedway Racing News South Australian Sidecar Championship This Sunday Night - January 2014

January 1, 2014 by Gillman Media

Last week we said it would be interesting to see, with such a strong line-up, if any rider could win both the Paintmaster SA Gillman Sidecar Championship, and the Speedway Racing News South Australian Sidecar Championship, but now the question is much simpler – can Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony win the double and, in the process, retain the State Championship which Plaisted (with Sam Gilbert) won for the first time last season?

Plaisted/Anthony won the Gillman Championship on Saturday night after a dramatic final saw first-across-the-line Mick Headland/Paul Waters excluded, but their win last weekend won’t make things any easier for them on Sunday night.

The South Australian Sidecar Championship has been one of the hardest fought meetings of the season for many years now, and Sunday night will be no exception.

With 28 riders programmed it is an achievement just to be in the final sixteen, and the final itself will be the equivalent to an Australian Championship, which is what has attracted a major sponsorship for the meeting from the Sydney-based Speedway Racing News Magazine.

When he offered the sponsorship several weeks ago, Speedway Racing News publisher David Tapp said he was thrilled to be supporting one of the Gillman venue’s major blue ribbon events.

“Gillman Speedway Stadium is Australia’s leading speedway motorcycle venue and the crew at the helm do a fantastic job for the sport,” Tapp said. “I enjoy going to Gillman and I am proud of the TV programs we have produced from the venue over several seasons. I’m happy to support the SA Sidecar Championship through the publishing arm of our business. SRN is an icon of Australian speedway and there’s no doubt the Gillman facility also enjoys iconic status given its global reputation. The SA Sidecar Championship will attract a world class field and fans are assured of a wonderful night of entertainment.”

While a number of riders could win the championship, four stand out as the favourites – Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony, Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox, Mick Headland/Paul Waters and Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding.

Treloar is the sport’s most successful rider and despite coming from Sydney he holds the record for the most SA championship wins with five. There is every possibility he’ll win number six – but he has a new young passenger so will that affect his chances?

Mark Mitchell is a former Australian and South Australian champion who was in top form at Gillman earlier this season before a massive crash which saw his bike almost go over the fence, but he showed towards the end of Saturday night’s meeting that he is getting the bike set-up back to what is was, so he’ll fancy his chances of a second State title, but Treloar’s main rivals in recent years have been Mick Headland and Mark Plaisted.

Headland is a twice World Track Racing Champion who is are always in contention in any meeting he contests, while Plaisted has had the wood on Treloar in recent times, beating him in last year’s SA Championship and the Grand Slam Final, and most recently the Oceania Championship in Mildura.

Warren Monson/Matt Morgan finished second in the Gillman Championship so they would love to go one step further up the victory podium, and the British duo Mark Cossar/Darryl Whetstone are capable of taking points off the favourites but being able to do it consistently over five rides, and then in the finals, will be the difficult thing.

The same applies to the remainder of the seeded riders, they are all capable of winning some heats but can they string together enough points to reach the semi-final or final?

The large number of nominations means the night will start with some qualification races, and the non-qualifiers will still get a full night’s racing with nine support races programmed.

Racing will start at 7.30pm, and the luck of the draw means there will be some cracking races early in the night, none more so than heat four which will pit three of the favourites – Treloar, Mitchell and Plaisted – and one of the best outsiders, Niesche, against each other. And the preceding heat, three, has Ron Parker, Mark Cossar, Mick Cave and Warren Monson!

An early arrival will also ensure you’ll get a copy of the souvenir programme which includes seven pages covering the history of the event back to 1947, and full colour photos of all the seeded pairs.

All you need to know:

Meeting Date: Sunday night, 5 January 2014.

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

Gates open: at 5 pm.

Racing starts: at 7.30 pm.

Riders/Passengers:

Speedway Racing News South Australian Sidecar Championship:

Fourteen riders have been seeded and two riders will decided by qualifying heats. The seeded riders are:

Mick Cave / Gaz Williams (Eng), Mark Cossar / Darryl Whetstone (Eng), Malcolm German / Stephen Stagg (Vic), Jason Hardy / Geoff Langdon, Arron Hartwig / Teagan Hartwig, Mick Headland / Paul Waters, Trent Headland / Jack Spear, Mark Mitchell / Tom Golding, Warren Monson / Matt Morgan (Vic), Damien Niesche / Mitchell Spear, Ron Parker / Nik Schwarzer, Rob Patterson / Brenton Kerr (Vic), Mark Plaisted / Brian Anthony, Darrin Treloar / Blake Cox (NSW).

Qualifying races:

The following riders will contest two heats and a final of qualifying with the first two in the final progressing to the championship and the non-qualifiers going into the support events.

Tim Bichard / Dale Knights, Brenten Dwyer / Adam Pfitzner, Daniel Puddy / Luke Puddy, Shane Rudloff / Damian Egan, Aaron Silvy / Matthew Barkla, Daniel Stephens / Link Stephens (NSW), Rick Stephens / Darcy Risstrom (NSW) and Darryl Woods / Will Walker.

Support races:

The support races will be contested by the non-qualifiers plus Keith Bichard / Derick Thomas, Mal Greig / Scott Banyer, Dean Hobbs / Andy Westover, Kym Menadue / Anthony Schulz, Mark Radford / Chris Walker (Vic), Brian Silvy / Josh Knott.

About the sponsor, Speedway Racing News:

Speedway Racing News is Australia’s longest running speedway publication with the first issue published in February, 1972. The sport’s top selling publication is published monthly by the present owner, David Tapp, who acquired the publication in 1998. In recent years, the overall standard and profile of the publication has been raised significantly with initiative changes and refinements. SRN is available in newsagents within Australia on the first Thursday of each month, for $6.95 for 60 pages, or by subscription World-wide, and offers unequalled coverage of the sport locally and internationally. In addition SRN will be launching an APP in coming months so people will be able to access exclusive content on line, on iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

Admission: Adults $25, Pension and Student Concession $20 (*), Children Under 16 $5 (aged between 12-15 inclusive), Children Under 12 free. Family $55. Parking free. Programme $5. (*) Concession is limited to holders of the Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession card holders only. Family includes up to 2 Adults and 4 Children.

Weather Forecast: Maximum 25, minimum 15. Partly cloudy, possible early isolated showers.

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, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, Chico Rolls, dim sims, hot dogs, sandwiches, 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 grassed viewing mounds and the western end is fully terraced, but there is no grandstand seating, so bring deck chairs or blankets if you do not want to sit on the grass.

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. Any number from one up to fifty 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.

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 30 minutes’ drive 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. 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 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. The whole trip is about 20kms, and half-an-hour depending on traffic lights. 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.

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.

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