Next Gillman Speedway practice and meeting dates - August 2014

August 6, 2014 by Gillman Media

Following the cancellation of last weekend’s practice because of the weather, there will an extra practice day held at Gillman Speedway on Saturday, 16 August. Gates will open at 9am with racing starting at 12pm. Note this is Saturday, not the usual Sunday, as the venue is not available on the Sunday.

The next full race meeting will be the second of the two winter meetings, on Saturday, 13 September. Nominations (through the Gillman website online nomination form) close on Sunday, 7 September.

Early nominations include teenage Queensland Solo rider Matt Day, and New South Wales Sidecar duo Stephen Saunders and Clarissa Mitchell.

Day was impressive in scoring 10 points, and qualifying for the semi-final, in the Jack Young Cup earlier in the year, and he will add some serious opposition to last meeting’s stars Jack Fallon and Brodie Waters if they nominate, and local star Robert Medson who had to miss the last meeting because of injury.

Brother and sister combination, Stephen Saunders and Clarissa Mitchell, are working hard during the off season in preparation for what they hope will be their best ever season. “We are running a Mitch Frame again this term and we’ve freshened up our Yamaha FZR power plant in readiness for the new season,” Stephen said. Saunders contested several rounds of the prestigious Sidecar Grand Slam Series last season and said he learned a lot last season from riding against the best riders regularly, and he now wants to get as much track time as he can to earn a full-time berth in this season’s series.

Top photo: Brodie Waters (left) and Matt Day in action during the Jack Young Cup at Gillman in January.

Mick Cave Injured
Meanwhile, there is bad news through from England about Mick Cave who appears in the above pic with Stephen Saunders. Cave’s racing future is in doubt after a bad grass track Sidecar crash on 20 July. Mick broke his right femur (thigh bone) and has had a titanium rod inserted from his right hip through the femur bone down to his knee and this rod will stay in for life which may make it too risky to race again. He has also damaged ligaments in his left shoulder but the doctors have decided to wait a couple of months and see how the shoulder is healing before deciding on whether to operate.