Puddy maximum, but Headland the Master at Gillman - February 2015

February 22, 2015 by Gillman Media

The Puddy brothers, Daniel and Luke, went through the qualifying heats of the Paintmaster SA Gillman Sidecar Masters unbeaten at Gillman Speedway last night, but it was the father and son team of Mick and Jesse Headland who emerged as the Masters in the final.

Puddy, who earlier beat Headland when they met in heat four, finished second in the final, with Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan third and Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig fourth.

The meeting produced very close racing and lots of passing right from the first event of the night, but on the scorecard, Puddy (15), Headland (14) and Rudloff (13) dominated and were rewarded with the three direct qualification places into the final.

Hartwig was the next highest scorer with 12, and he carried that form into the last chance semi-final with a narrow but strong win over Rob Patterson/Brenton Kerr and Jason Hardy/Adam Pascoe. Tim Bichard/Dale Knights were the other semi-final qualifiers but bike trouble prevented them starting in a restart after a first corner bingle between themselves and Patterson.

The support races were equally close and exciting with fans divided over which was better, the very close 250cc Junior Solos, or the 500cc Handicap races. Both had plenty of thrilling moments, often with riders three wide, but on the scorecard, Cooper Riordan went through the 500cc races unbeaten (although he missed out on a five ride maximum because of a tape exclusion), while Victoria’s James Davies was the best of the 250cc Juniors but there was nothing much between him, the two WA visitors, Declan Knowles and Matthew Marson, and locals Mitchell Grech and Brayden McGuinness.

The next meeting is the President’s Cup for Solos, Sidecars and Juniors on 7 March.