Top class Solo action to finish Gillman Speedway season - April 2015

April 8, 2015 by Gillman Media

Solo fans are in for a feast of action this Saturday (11 April) when riders from six states and territories of Australia will compete at Gillman Speedway in the SA round of the national Heffernan Motorsports Solo Series.

With almost 50 riders taking part in three classes, the meeting will start at the earlier than normal time of 4pm to ensure an early finish to the 60 plus event programme.

The Heffernan Series has been held in the Eastern states for the last two seasons but this will be the first time a round has been held in South Australia.

Each round has a full programme of 500cc, 250cc and Junior 125cc Solo events and a senior champion and junior champions will be crowned at the conclusion of the series as well as a ‘grand champion’– the grand champion being the highest overall point scorer from all classes. The overall prize pool for the 2015 series will be a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 in vouchers redeemable at retail prices via the Heffernan Motorsports spare parts network.

There doesn’t appear to be any clear cut favourites in any of the classes although many will favour former British League riders Mason Campton and Joey Ringwood to take out pool A of the 500cc class. There are a number of other riders who are more than capable of taking top honours however, including fellow NSW riders Jye Etheridge, Josh Pickering and Kieran Sproule (NSW), Queensland’s Josh Coyne, WA’s Daniel Winchester, Victorians Cooper Riordan and Jack Fallon, and local hope Robert Medson.

In Pool B most attention with be on 16-year-old Queenslander Zaine Kennedy, who was been getting rave reviews from his home state, and fellow 16-year-old Jaimon Lidsey from Mildura who is making his senior debut after winning the Australian Under 16 250cc Championship in January.

The junior events will also feature current and former Australian Champions, with former 125cc and 250cc Champion Brody Eves, from Townsville, heading a very even line-up of 250cc riders, and current 125cc Champion Jack Norman, from Adelaide, heading the 125cc class.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday afternoon, 11 April 2015.

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

Gates open: back gate open at 1pm, main gate open at 2pm.

Racing starts: at 4 pm.

Riders:

500cc Solos Pool A: Seth Hickey (SA), Josh Coyne (Qld), Daniel Winchester (WA), Doug Scoble (WA), Kieran Sproule (NSW), Cooper Riordan (Vic), Jake Mitchell (SA), Jye Etheridge (NSW), Josh Pickering (NSW), Mason Campton (NSW), Robert Medson (SA), Ben Cook (NSW), Joey Ringwood (NSW), Jordan Stewart (Vic), Andy Edser (NSW), Jack Fallon (Vic)

500cc Solos Pool B: Matt Flay (SA), Kane Lawrence (NSW), Zaine Kennedy (Qld), Jack Morrison (Vic), Declyn Adams (Vic), Gary Fischer (SA), James Dimmock (ACT), Luke Bacskai (SA), Blake Ridley (SA), Jaimon Lidsey (Vic), John Doolan (Vic)

250cc Junior Solos: Brody Eves (Qld), Mitchell Grech (SA), Jimmy Jones (NSW), Dakota Ballantyne (SA), Matt Marson (WA), James Davies (Vic), Oliver Hamilton (Vic), Brayden McGuiness (SA), Zach Cook (NSW)

125cc Junior Solos (infield track): Bailey Viner (Qld), Hugh Evans (SA), Keynan Rew (Qld), Layne Riordan (Vic), Liam May (SA), Jack Norman (SA), Jack Sadler (SA), Troy Kutcher (SA), Nicholas Possingham (SA), Ned Faulkhead (Vic), Brayden McGuiness (SA), Patrick Hamilton (Vic)

Admission:

Adults $20, Age Pension and Student Concession $15, Children Under 16 free. Programme $5. Parking free.

Concession is limited to Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only.

Weather Forecast: Maximum 23, minimum 11. Partly cloudy. [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