Justin Sedgmen, Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt on top of exciting night’s racing at Gillman - November 2016

November 28, 2016 by Gillman Media

After the disappointment of the last minute rain off at the previous meeting, fans were more than adequately compensated with a very entertaining meeting at Gillman on Saturday night (26 November).

As is usually the case with the Eagle Fuels sponsored meeting, with no major championship up for grabs, organisers can accurately grade the riders and the result is plenty of close racing and abundant passing. An extra bonus on Saturday night was also being able to see a lot of the younger riders literally improving with every ride.

The meeting however started and finished on a low note with a sad tribute to former track electrician Bob White at the start, and a bad Solo crash causing the abandonment of the finals.

The tribute to Bob White saw all the night’s riders/passengers do several laps of the track before lining up around the inside of the track while Speedway Riders Association President Ivan Golding spoke about Bob and his contribution to speedway in general, and Gillman in particular. Bob, who passed away after a short battle with cancer, was always the first at the track, with Speedway Manager Dave Parker, in the early morning hours of race days, so was more often than not the first person the riders and officials saw when entering the pits, and it will be difficult to adjust to not seeing him there.

Shortly after the tribute, racing got under way at 7.30pm, and spectators were treated to 32 events of exciting speedway, with only about four of those events not involving any passing or close racing.

The first class to take to the track was the Group 1 Solos, and while they provided plenty of passing, there was one standout rider in this group with British League rider Justin Sedgmen going through the card unbeaten. He was in fact only challenged once, by Jaimon Lidsey who managed to stay with him for a couple of laps in heat four. Lidsey (8 points) finished as the equal second highest scorer but there was nothing to choose between Lidsey, Ty Proctor, Cooper Riordan and Jordan Stewart. Stewart was the, perhaps surprise, third qualifier for the final, but he earned his place on merit with a good ride to take second place ahead of Riordan in their final heat which left Sewart equal with Lidsey on 8 points, and Riordan a point adrift on 7. A further point adrift, on 6 points, was Ty Proctor, who missed his first ride which probably cost him a place in the final. It would have been interesting to see who would have won the Semi-Final out of Riordan and Proctor but the two finals were some of the races that were abandoned. The other qualifiers for the Semi-Final were James Davies (4) and Dakota Ballantyne (2). Davies was one of the riders who noticeably improved as the night went on. He looked a little out of his depth in his first ride, but was much better in his next two, and then pulled one out of his hat in the last heat to go close to beating Lidsey and Proctor. Ultimately he only finished third, but he held off a strong challenge by both of them on the first lap, before Lidsey got under him on the second lap, but Proctor only got him with less than half a lap to go.

Group 2 Solos

There was some very close racing in the Group 2 Solos, with the Mitchell Grech-Jack Morrison dice in heat five the closest race of the night as they were side by side for the whole race. Grech and Morrison top scored in the group with 10 points, but would most likely have been joined by debut rider Brayden McGuinness who finished with 7 points but was favourite to win the abandoned heat seven. McGuinness noticeably improved with every ride as did the unfortunate Aden Clare, who’d ridden the best ride of his short senior career in heat six before a big crash in the final group 2 heat. 16-year-old Clare came out of turn two, then hit the fence on the back straight at speed and was thrown high into the air and over the fence. The initial hit broke a timber fence post, and it was thought he’d broken his femur (thigh bone). As a consequence he received lengthy medical treatment before it was announced it was likely to be another half an hour before he’d be placed in the ambulance, which would make it 11.15pm, so the rerun and the remaining nine events, including the group 1 Solo and Sidecar Finals, were cancelled. The good news is Clare did not break his leg and has since been released from hospital. Hopefully the crash won’t dent his confidence and he’ll continue the improvement he was showing on Saturday night.

250cc Solos (Under 16)

Jack Norman (8 points) was the best of the group of first year riders in 250cc Solo class (under 16), but it was Connor Bailey (9) who was the top scorer after Norman dropped a chain while leading the third heat. Bailey, Liam May (6) and Fraser Bowes (1) all improved with every ride, with Bailey scoring a win over Norman in the final heat.

All three Sidecar groups provided plenty of close racing, passing, and the occasional few incidents, and it is hard to say which of the groups was the more entertaining – they were certainly all very watchable.

Group 1 Sidecars

The Group 1 Sidecars started in brilliant style with Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr, Justin Plaisted/Ayrton Canning and Mark Mitchell/Luke Mitchell all leading on the first lap. After lots of passing and challenges it was Mitchell who got home first with Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear coming through to finish second ahead of Headland and Plaisted. Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt won an incident packed second heat which saw Justin Plaisted and the Hartwigs, Arron and Teagan, mixing it on the infield before being separated by officials. Mark Plaisted continued his opening ride form for the rest of the night going through the card unbeaten (12 points). With most of the riders only having three rides because of the cancelled events, Niesche finished second in the points with 6, and Headland third with 5. After his slashing first ride win Mitchell was forced out after his second ride, with a damaged radiator.

Group 2 Sidecars

Klae Hobbs/Jesse Headland were the stars of the Group 2 Sidecars with an unbeaten 9 points, with this season’s most improved team, Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards next on 6, Mick Tucker/Corey Palmer on 5, and Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh, Aaron Silvy/Adam Pascoe and Mal Greig/Ayrton Canning on 4. The ride of the night in this group was Tucker’s win in heat five when he came from third place with a lap to go to pass Greig and Steve Brown/Colby Higgins on the last lap to win by a bike length. Bichard pulled off a similar last gasp win in heat three when he got under Silvy on the run to the line after Silvy had the lead all race.

Group 3 Sidecars

Long distance travellers Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts were rewarded for their trip over from near Melbourne with the top score (8 points) in group 3 ahead of Brian Silvy/Josh Knott (6) and Clinton Crabb/Michael Bell (2) and there was some exciting racing between these three. Silvy showed his best form at Gillman and deprived Donnelly of a maximum with a pass in the last half-a-lap of the opening heat, and Crabb was much better than his score suggests as he led on three occasions (including a restart) only for the bike to strike trouble as he crossed the start/finish line at the end of the first lap each time.