Treloar flies the flag for Aussies in Tri-Nation Grand Slam Final at Gillman - February 2014

February 23, 2014 by Gillman Media

Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox played a lone hand for the Australians in the Blackchrome Sidecar Grand Slam at Gillman Speedway last night, taking on a Kiwi and two Englishmen in the final, but Treloar was in vintage form all night and won the final easily to complete an untroubled maximum.

Placegetters behind Treloar were Andrew Buchanan (NZ)/Brady Cox, Mark Cossar/Darryl Whetstone (Eng), and Matt Tyrrell (Eng)/Craig Fordham. The line-up was a dream for the promoters, Full Throttle Promotions, who have worked hard over the last three years to turn the Grand Slam Series into an International event.

Treloar (15), Cossar (13) and Tyrrell (12) were the direct qualifiers for the final while Buchanan (12) was the winner of the last chance semi-final ahead of a battered and bruised Mick Headland/Jesse Headland (11), Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig (10) and Brenten Dwyer/Jack Spear (8).

Apart from being beaten by Treloar in the heats, Cossar dropped his other point to Buchanan after a slow start in heat ten saw him initially in last place. Tyrrell was beaten by Headland, Treloar and Cossar; and Buchanan was beaten by Treloar, Tyrrell and Headland.

Mick Headland, who went into the meeting as the Series leader, started in the worse possible way with a crash in his first race in which he suffered a gashed cheek, hand and shoulder injury. He refused to withdraw however, stating second placed Treloar would build up too big of a lead in the series points if he did, so he battled on and after a second to Treloar in heat seven, he won his last three rides to easily qualify for the semi-final but he trailed Buchanan throughout to miss a berth in the final.

Treloar/Cox now lead Headland/Headland by six points with two rounds remaining.

The Grand Slam featured plenty of close racing, particularly between some of the riders in the bottom half of the scorecard. Some of the highlights included Dwyer v Hardy in heat 8, the best race to that point and yet in the slowest time of the night; Niesche v Hardy v Rudloff in heat 12; Tyrrell v Hartwig in heat 16; and Saunders v Rudloff in heat 19.

Prominent riders who had disappointing nights included defending champion Mark Plaisted who was off the pace all night; Ron Parker who was forced out with clutch failure; and Mick Cave who suffered concussion in a first heat crash with Headland.