Gillman Speedway meeting this Saturday afternoon - September 2014

September 10, 2014 by Gillman Media

The second of two winter meetings at Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway takes place on Saturday afternoon (13 September).

Racing will start at noon and continue throughout the afternoon with 59 events on the main track, plus a full programme of junior events on the infield track during the track grades, and all for just $10 admission.

As in the first meeting a number of star riders will be appearing on Saturday to ready themselves for the forthcoming summer season. Amongst them are Oceania Sidecar Champion Mark Plaisted, and hard-charging Roxby Downs based Trent Headland.

Plaisted had a break-through season in 2012/13 when he won the South Australia Championship and the prestigious national Grand Slam Series, and followed up by winning the World’s major speedway sidecar event, the Oceania Championship at the beginning of the 2013/14 season, but then crashed spectacularly when defending his SA championship, and crashed again when he was looking set to qualify for the Australian Championship final, so he’s looking for a good run on Saturday to get himself set for a serious challenge more major honours again this summer.

Living in Roxby Downs, Trent Headland did not do a lot of racing last season but was still able to challenge, and often beat, the nation’s best riders, and this season he is embark on his biggest ever season. “I’ve never been fitter and I’ve worked hard on my equipment,” Headland said, “I’m confident I’ve got a set-up that will see us on the pace.” Headland will have a new passenger this year in Englishman Darryl Whetstone who rode in Australia last summer with Mark Cossar. “Darryl and I have struck a deal to race together in three meetings at the start of the season and then we’ll assess things from there,” Headland explained. “Darryl is a very good passenger and I reckon we’ll make a great team.”

The 500cc Solos should produce the closest racing of the day with three very even groups. Queensland’s Matty Day, local riders Robert Medson and Robert Branford, and Mildura’s Brodie Waters and Jack Fallon will ride in group one; Jake Mitchell, Seth Hickey and Luke Mitchell in group two; and new riders Matthew Flay, Luke Bacskai and Blake Ridley in group three, with the winner impossible to pick confidently in any of the groups.

Medson, Branford, and the Mitchells will also be riding in the Dirt Track Solo class which has an impressive 17 nominations. Broken Hill’s Logan Coombe went through the card unbeaten at the last meeting, seeing off the strong challenges of Luke Mitchell and Kane Turner but the line-up is stronger this time. As well as the aforementioned speedway riders, the Dirt track class will feature star dirt track, endure and road racing rider Nicholas Waters from Mildura.

The 250cc Junior Solos, Classic Solos and Sidecars, Three Quarter Midgets and infield 125cc Juniors round out the programme, with some interesting names in the Classic classes. Former British League rider Robert Ksiezak will be making his first on-track appearance in quite some time, riding in the Classic Solo class; while the original North Arm Speedway favourites, Jim Irwin and Brian Bascombe will ride together in the Classic Sidecar events.

Top photo: Steve Parsons iconic pic of Jim Irwin/Brian Bascombe (left) and Peter Menz/Brenton Langlois in action at North Arm Speedway in 1981. Irwin/Bascombe won the first ever meeting at North Arm are will be back together for the first time in many years this Saturday afternoon.

Everything you need to know:

Meeting Date: Saturday afternoon, 13 September 2014.

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

Spectator Gates open: at 10 am.

Racing starts: at 12 noon. Should finish around 5pm.

Admission Prices: Everyone aged 16 and older $10, Under 16 free. No concession or passes. Racecard available for $1.

Parking and entrance: Enter via the gate at the eastern end near the pits.

Classes, and competitors (all riders have four rides):

Sidecars Group 1: Mark Plaisted / TBA, Trent Headland / Daryl Whetstone, Damien Niesche / Mitchell Spear, Shane Rudloff / Damian Egan, Tim Bichard / Dale Knights, Steve Radford / Matthew Crundwell (Vic), Dale Milner / Nick O’Brien (Vic).

Sidecars Group 2: Keith Bichard / Derick Thomas, Dean Hobbs / Andy Westover, Ricky Fechner / Jesse Headland, Brian Silvy/Josh Knott, Chris Bichard / Brett Lewis, Mal Greig / Scott Banyer, Geoff Wallace / Peter Ennis, Klae Hobbs / Jack Spear.

500cc Solos : Group 1-Matty Day (Qld), Robert Medson, Brodie Waters (Vic), Jack Fallon (Vic), Robert Branford. Group 2-Jake Mitchell, Seth Hickey, Luke Mitchell. Group 3-Matthew Flay, Luke Bacskai, Blake Ridley.

250cc Junior Solos : Mitchell Grech, Dakota Ballantyne, Cooper Riordan (Vic), Declyn Adams (Vic).

Combined British/European/American and Japanese Classic Sidecars: Clinton Crabb / Jarred Edey, Steve Lewis / Sean Chapman, Dale Milner / Nick O’Brien (Vic), Jim Irwin / Brian Bascombe, Shane Rudloff / Damian Egan.

Combined Post Classic and Evolution Sidecars : Dean Hobbs / Andy Westover, Clinton Crabb / Jarred Edey, Dale Milner / Nick O’Brien (Vic), Michael Emmerick / Angus Atherton, Paul Donnelly / Jake Roberts (Vic), Sean Chapman / Matt Ambrose.

Classic Solos : George Thomson, Robert Ksiezak, Trevor Henderson, Seane Chapman, Seth Hickey.

Dirt Track/MX Solos : Gary Speak, Jake Roberts (Vic), Steven Heazlewood, Clayton Tilbrook, Brett Metcalf, Matthew Ambrose, Robert Medson, Daniel Mitchell, Dale Knights, Troy Knights, Jack Spear, Jake Mitchell, Luke Mitchell, Kane Turner, Logan Coombe (NSW), Robert Branford, Nicholas Waters (Vic).

Three Quarter Midgets: Michael Levy, Eric Klenke, John Catford, Wayne Hamilton

INFIELD JUNIOR TRACK

125cc Junior Solos : Group 1-Brayden McGuinness, Jack Norman, Oliver Hamilton (Vic); Group 2-Troy Kutcher, William Coombes, Nicholas Possingham, Patrick Hamilton (Vic), Liam May, Fraser Bowes; Novice Group-Seth Pascoe, Angus Van Den Berg, Jack Sadler, Ben Dixon.

Pee Wees : Jye Silvy, Rosie Bowes, Harry Sadler, Tyler Battams.

250cc Junior Sidecar : Tom Adams / Katylen Silvy.

Weather Forecast: Sunny, maximum 22.

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 (security will check at the gate). Also note no pets, other than guide dogs, are allowed into the venue.

Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop. Eftpos available only in the souvenir shop.

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 2kms. 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