Treloar/Cox the leaders after round one of the Oceania Sidecar Championship - February 2015

February 8, 2015 by Gillman Media

Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox lead the Oceania Sidecar Championship after the first of the three rounds, but only by one point from defending champions Mark Plaisted/Brian Anthony with Warren Monson/Matt Morgan just another point adrift in third place.

Treloar has been in vintage form this season with victories in the South Australian Championship and the dyovest.com Grand Slam Round at Gillman last month and continued that form when he returned to Gillman last night. He started poorly when he could only manage third place behind Plaisted and Mick Headland/Jesse Headland in a red hot heat three, but thereafter was unbeaten and absolutely blitzed the final winning by about 60 metres in the fastest time of the night.

Treloar, Plaisted and Monson were the three direct qualifiers for the final, tied on 13 points and finished in that order in the final to leave the series points as Treloar 17, Plaisted 16, Monson 15.

Behind them, and qualifying for the semi-final were Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin and David Gannon/Raymond George on 11 points, Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear 8, and Mick Headland/Jesse Headland 7, scraping in on count back ahead of Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding and Grant Bond/Glenn Cox. Gates, who had the fastest two times in the first eight heats, won the semi-final (ahead of Gannon and Niesche with Headland excluded from third place for barging) and then finished fourth in the final after a close race with Plaisted and Monson.

Plaisted’s second place in the final was a satisfying result as he rode the majority of the night on his spare bike fitted with a motor on loan from fellow Gillman rider Shane Rudloff after he blew the engine on his number one bike as he crossed the line in his heat 3 win over Headland and Treloar.

He wasn’t the only rider to suffer serious engine trouble, with overseas riders Mark Cossar and Joe Jones, and Riverland youngster Arron Hartwig all suffering problems. Jones had trouble with his bike in practice and was only able to compete thanks to the generosity of Ron Parker who loaned him a bike and although it was underpowered compared to the others, and he only scored 4 points, he was very much in the thick of the action and there is no doubt if he could spend a full season in Australia as Cossar did last season, he’d be a match for any of the leading Australian riders. Cossar suffered a blown head gasket in his first ride and even though he won his second ride he wasn’t prepared to risk a blow up and withdrew after just two rides.

The two Kiwis, David Gannon and Paul Humphrey were both impressive, and after Andrew Buchanan’s impressive riding in Australia in recent seasons, the time could be right to bring a full team of NZ riders over for a series of team matches against our State teams.

In the Junior Sidecar events, Australian Champion Jackson Barbary and passenger Demi Hearne won the Glenn & Nathan O’Brien Cup ahead of Jack Gilbert/Nicholas Possingham, with Jack Sylvia/Harry Hearne excluded after a collision with Gilbert. Barbary also top scored in the heats with 16 with Sylvia on 15 and Gilbert on 11.