Mick Headland chasing his second Gillman Masters - February 2015

February 18, 2015 by Gillman Media

South Australian Sidecar star Mick Headland will be the hot favourite to win his second Gillman Sidecar Masters at the Adelaide venue this Saturday night (21 February).

This is the tenth staging of the Masters, sponsored this season by Paintmaster SA, and if Headland wins he will become only the second rider to win for a second time. The previous nine events have been dominated by Sydney’s Darrin Treloar, who has won six times in seven attempts, but Treloar will miss the event this season because of a clash with the New South Wales Championship.

In Treloar’s absence it will be a tall order for anyone to beat Headland, but there are a number of riders who will be backing themselves to do just that, in particular, Jason Hardy, Arron Hartwig, Rob Patterson, Daniel Puddy and Shane Rudloff.

While those riders are expected to be the main contenders for a berth in the final, competition will also be close amongst the remaining riders chasing a place in the last chance semi-final.

Support events include 500cc Solos and 250cc Solos, with close racing expected between visiting Danish rider Peter Karger, Mildura’s Cooper Riordan and local rider Robert Medson.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday night, 21 February 2015.

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

Gates open: at 5 pm. Change of opening time, gates open at 4pm.

Racing starts: at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits for a close look at the bikes until approximately 6.30 pm.

Riders:

Paintmaster SA Sidecar Masters: Chris Bichard / Brett Lewis, Tim Bichard / Dale Knights, Ricky Fechner / Justin Richards, Jason Hardy / Adam Pascoe, Arron Hartwig / Teagan Hartwig, Mick Headland / Jesse Headland, Dale Milner / Nick O’Brien (Vic), Dean Hobbs / Andy Westover, Rob Patterson / Brenton Kerr (Vic), Adon Pearce / Brodie Gebhart (Vic), Daniel Puddy / Luke Puddy, Mark Radford / Chris Walker (Vic), Shane Rudloff / Damian Egan, Aaron Silvy / Todd Haydon, Brian Silvy / Josh Knott, Darryll Woods / Will Walker. Reserve: Klae Hobbs / Mitchell Spear.

Format: 16 riders x 20 heats plus a last chance semi-final and a final. The 4th to 7th highest scorers go into the semi-final; and the winner of the semi-final and the highest three scorers from the 20 heats go into the final.

Support Classes:

500cc Solos: Gary Fisher, Seth Hickey, (Peter Karger OUT 21 Feb), Robert Medson, Blake Ridley, Cooper Riordan (Vic)

250cc Junior Solos: Dakota Ballantyne, James Davies (Vic), Mitchell Grech, Declan Knowles (WA), Matthew Marson (WA), Brayden McGuinness

125cc Junior Solos (infield track): Hugh Evans, Mitchell Grech, Liam May, Brayden McGuinness, Jack Norman, Nicholas Possingham, Layne Riordan (Vic), Jack Sadler

Gillman Sidecar Masters Sponsor: Paintmaster SA

Paintmaster SA is a South Australian company with over 20 years’ experience in residential and commercial painting and decorating.

Operated by Dave Adams, Paintmaster SA employs several teams of qualified full time tradesmen and apprentices and services some of South Australia’s top builders, architects, government organisations and residential clients.

Paintmaster SA has a focus on service and quality and, by continually updating their skills, can provide top quality finishes in the latest technology and surface applications.

In addition they are fully licensed and insured, full members of the Master Painters Association, and offer a 5 year workmanship guarantee!

Admission:

Adults $25, Age Pension and Student Concession $20, Children aged 12-15 $5, Children under 12 free. Family $55. Programme $5. Parking free.

Concession is limited Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession Card holders only. A family ticket covers 2 adults and children under 16.

Weather Forecast: Maximum 37, minimum 21. Mostly sunny. [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.

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