CBS Bins Australian 500cc Solo Championship round at Gillman Speedway Friday night - January 2016

January 5, 2016 by Gillman Media

Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway Stadium will host a round of the Australian 500cc Solo Championship, for the twelfth consecutive year, this Friday night (8 January), starting at 7.30pm.

Recently crowned South Australian Champion Rohan Tungate leads the Championship after the first round of the four round series.

Tungate, from Pelaw Main in New South Wales, was the top point scorer in the heats, and then won the final, in the first round at his nearby home track in Kurri Kurri last Saturday night, continuing a rich vein of form he has been in over the last three weeks as he previously won the South Australian Championship at Gillman on 12 December and the Jason Crump Invitational at Kurri Kurri on Boxing Day.

Tungate is also a previous Australian Championship round winner at Gillman, so will be confident of accumulating another good haul of series points in the CBS Bins Round 3 at Gillman on Friday night, but his task of winning will be far from easy with another nine international riders in the line-up.

Like Tungate, they all ride professionally in the British League during the Australian winter, and several also ride for league teams in Sweden, Poland and Denmark.

The best known to non-regulars would be Sam Masters who helped Speedway get some rare footage on the TV news in October with his clashes with three-time World Champion Nicki Pedersen in front of 26,000 spectators in the Australian Speedway Grand Prix at Etihad Stadium.

But regulars will know the other riders are more than capable of beating Tungate and Masters.

Victorians Max Fricke, who was runner-up to Tungate in the SA Championship (with Masters third), and Justin Sedgmen always do well at Gillman, and fellow Victorian Tyron Proctor, after a couple of injury prone years, won the Jack Young Cup at Gillman in November and was fourth in the SA Championship.

Kurri Kurri’s Mason Campton was a finalist in the Gillman round of the Australian Championship two seasons ago and on the same night Townsville’s Josh Grajczonek won one of the best races seen at Gillman when he defeated Tungate in a run-off to decide overall third place in the championship after both had finished equal on series points (pictured above).

The remaining three international riders – Nick Morris, Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder – have not ridden as many meetings at Gillman, but along with Max Fricke they were the Australian team for the recent World Under 21 Team Championship, so are at the forefront of Australia’s rising stars overseas.

The remaining riders – Jordan Stewart, Cooper Riordan, Josh Pickering, Brodie Waters, Kieran Sproule and Alan Macdonald – are all young riders hoping to follow the above-named riders into international racing in the next year or two and while they may be hard-pushed to edge any of the international riders out of the semi-final and final places, they are also very evenly matched and should produce some very close racing amongst themselves while also possibly taking some points from the more favoured riders.

There will also be a limited number of Sidecar support events, including last meeting’s iron man, Mark Mitchell, who came back from two serious crashes in the space of three races to finish third in the State Championship, and the 125cc Junior Solos, including Australian Junior Champion Jack Norman, and World Junior 250cc Champion Matthew Gilmore, will race on the infield track during the brief track grades on the main track.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Friday, 8 January 2016.

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

Gates open: at 3 pm.

Parking and entrance: Patrons can enter via two gates, at the western and eastern ends of the venue. There are parking areas near both gates. The eastern gate will close at 8.30pm.

Racing starts: at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits for a close look at the riders and bikes until approximately 5 pm.

Riders:

CBS Bins Australian Championship Round 500cc Solos : Mason Campton (NSW), Max Fricke (Vic), Josh Grajczonek (Qld), Jack Holder (NSW), Brady Kurtz (NSW), Alan Macdonald (NSW), Sam Masters (NSW), Nick Morris (Qld), Josh Pickering (NSW), Tyron Proctor (Vic), Cooper Riordan (Vic), Justin Sedgmen (Vic), Kieran Sproule (NSW), Jordan Stewart (Vic), Rohan Tungate (NSW), Brodie Waters (Vic). Reserves: Joshua Macdonald (NSW), Dakota Ballantyne (SA).

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 three highest scorers from the 20 heats go into the final.

Series points after round one: Rohan Tungate 18, Sam Masters 15, Max Fricke 15, Brady Kurtz 11, Justin Sedgmen 10, Mason Campton 10, Jack Holder 9, Nick Morris 9, Josh Grajczonek 7, Tyron Proctor 6, Jordan Stewart 6, Cooper Riordan 4, Josh Pickering 3, Brodie Waters 3, Kieran Sproule 2, Alan Macdonald 2.

Support Events:

Sidecars : 35 Mark Mitchell/tba (SA), 40 Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear (SA), 50 Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin (Vic), 27 Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig (SA).

125cc Junior Solos on infield track : 47 Nicholas Possingham, 80 Patrick Bowes, 70 Jack Sadler, 17 Layne Riordan (Vic), 17 Hugh Evans, 211 Teagan Pedler, 14 Liam May, 41 Jackson Milner (Vic), 22 Jack Norman, 46 Matthew Gilmore (NSW)

Admission prices: Adults $30, Age Pension and Student Concession $25 (*), Children aged 12-15 $10, Under 12 FREE, Family Tickets $70. Grandstand seating $5. Parking free. Souvenir programme $5.

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

Programme: 32 page souvenir programme with colour action and portrait photographs of the 16 championship riders (and the 2 reserves) and a history of the Championship from 1926 to 2015.

Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny, maximum 31, minimum 16. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]

Seating: 216 seat grandstand; terracing and large grassed viewing mounds suitable for deck chairs.

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. 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.

Australian Championship Round 3 Sponsor: CBS Bins

CBS Bins is a family owned and operated businesses which commenced in 1975 when Graham and Marion Baker started in business with the purchase of a model 610 Bobcat. As the years progressed they were joined by their sons Steven, Mark and Darren, and today CBS Bins has grown into one of South Australia’s leading waste and rubbish removal companies. Sadly Graham passed away in January 2013, but his family continues to support Gillman Speedway and Graham’s past support has been remembered by the western end terraced area being named The Graham Baker Terrace. Website [www.cbsbins.com.au]

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, nachos, doughnuts, coffee, cold drinks, sweets. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World, February 2015]

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.

Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop including the latest Blackchrome manufactured shirts and jackets. Eftpos available only in the souvenir shop.

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 airport 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, 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 2 kilometres).

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, offer 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