Gillman Speedway Classic Championships - October 2016

October 17, 2016 by Gillman Media

A number of exciting finals, with some of the closest finishes seen at the Classic meeting, highlighted the annual Gillman Classic Championships meeting in Adelaide last night.

The first of the finals to come to the tapes was the 2 Valve Solo Championship for riders aged under 40. With current-day riders Seth Hickey, Jake Mitchell and Luke Mitchell all riding, and all three evenly matched, this was always likely to be decided by who could make the early break, and that was Luke Mitchell. He initially held the lead from Hickey and Doug Hayden with Jake Mitchell last after a very slow start. Jake then looked like a man on a mission as he passed Hayden, then Hickey and set after Luke, only to strike a problem and relinquish second place back to Hickey who then made up significant ground to make a late challenge on Luke but at the finish it was Luke Mitchell from Hickey, Jake Mitchell and Hayden.

As expected the Two Valve Solo Championship for the over 40-year-olds was dominated by Roy Stout and Kevin Webb. Stout looked to have more speed than Webb during the heats and that is how it initially panned out in the final with Stout setting up a good lead early, but the ever-stylish Webb got closer and closer as the race went on and at the chequered flag there was only a bike length in it. Kerry Marsh finished third and Martin Williams fourth. Stout also received the Jeff Fisher Perpetual Trophy for winning this class.

There was no close race for first place in the remaining Solo Championship, for the 4 Valve Upright bikes, with former British League rider Robert Ksiezak in a different class to the other riders but there was a close race for the minor positions with Gary Fischer coming home in second place ahead of Luke Mitchell and Jake Mitchell.

It was a similar story in the British/European/American Sidecar Championship as Peter Tolley/Ezra Blizzard-Allen, on a Jon Heaviside owned Vincent, were unchallenged during the night and won the final convincingly but there was an exciting race for second between Clinton Crabb/Michael Bell on a Triumph and Geoff Baran/Matt Ambrose on a Norton, with Crabb the victor by a bike length. Doug Cotterell, on the other Heaviside Vincent, was second to Tolley in each of the heats but never got off the start line in the final.

On paper the Japanese Sidecar Championship looked to be a wide open affair and that’s how it turned out with the four finalists, Mick Tucker/Ant Diener, Greg Griffiths/Nathan McFadden, Don Morris/Scott Morris and Mark Radford/Blake Halls all scoring 7 points, while a fifth pair, Steven Lewis/Sean Chapman looked likely finalists when they beat Morris in their first ride, but they struck trouble in their second ride and were forced out of the meeting. The final was the race of the night. Tucker was the early leader, but Morris drew level underneath him though turns three and four, and then Griffiths came under both as they ended the first lap. They were still three wide into turn one of lap two. From that point Griffiths pulled away for a relatively easy win while the other three diced for second place which went to Morris from Tucker and Radford in a wheel-to-wheel finish.

The next final, the Evolution Sidecar Championship, saw the closest finish of the night, between Sydney’s Brad Pitt/Nathan McFadden and Melbourne’s Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts. Pitt led from the start and looked the likely winner early on but Donnelly caught him and went under him in turn one on the third lap. Pitt quickly regained the lead down the back straight, but Donnelly came at him again through the last turn and they crossed the line side-by-side. The winner couldn’t be picked from the western terrace where Donnelly’s supporters thought he’d won, but the official result was Pitt first, Donnelly second with Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris third.

The last of the finals decided was the Post Classic Sidecar and this looked like being a story-book ending to the night for former South Australian Champion Kym McConnell. Making his first appearance on his restored Yamaha TZ700, with Shane Edwards as passenger, McConnell won his first two heats in impressive style before being beaten by Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards in the third heat. In the final, however, he blasted away and held a big lead entering the last lap only to suffer a flat tyre which handed the lead, and the win, to last year’s runner-up, Hobbs. McConnell just held on to second ahead of Clinton Crabb/David Kernohan. The fourth starter was defending champion Justin Plaisted on David Adams’ Suzuki, but his passenger Cameron White fell in the first corner. Another former star rider making his first appearance was Broken Hill’s Chris Fraser (passenger Cec Fraser) and he looked good early on, winning his first race, and leading his second until he upended the bike which ruled him out of his remaining ride.

The meeting also had demonstration events by the Three Quarter Midgets (TQs), and Dirt Track Solos. The Dirt track bikes were spectacular with 15 bikes in each run, and riders to stand out were Ty Lynch, Jake Mitchell, Doug Hayden, Luke Magee, Robert Medson and Logan Coombe.

The Bruce Kelley Trophy for outstanding service at Gillman Speedway went to Bill Mitchell.

Top photo: Mick Tucker/Ant Diener (red), Greg Griffiths/Nathan McFadden (yellow), Don Morris/Scott Morris (B). Japanese Final, pic Judy Mackay.