The action continues at Gillman Speedway this Saturday night - November 2016

November 9, 2016 by Gillman Media

After a successful fundraising meeting for the Australian Solo World Cup teams a fortnight ago, the action continues at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night (12 November) with a 37 event programme of Solos, Sidecars and 250cc Junior Solos, sponsored by Eagle Fuels.

Eagle Fuels has become a regular sponsor of one of the early season meetings in recent years, and Speedway Manager David Parker says “The Eagle Fuels meetings have always been good ones. Coming early in the season riders are keen to impress to earn selection for the championship meetings which start in December so we end up with a lot of bikes, some evenly matched riders and consequently some close racing.”

Two of the season’s early in-form riders, Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr and Justin Plaisted/Cec Fraser, top the bill in the Sidecar class on Saturday night. Headland won the Sidecar Final at the opening meeting, but Plaisted won the Steel City Sidecar Spectacular at Whyalla last weekend with Headland in second place. Their main challenges should come from the Riverland’s Arron and Teagan Hartwig, who are making their first appearance for the season, Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear and Mildura’s Neale Hancock/Brendon Johnson, with Aaron Silvy/Adam Pascoe, Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh and New South Wales’ Paul Hemsworth/Don Morris also in the mix for a chance of a semi-final, or even a final, berth.

In the Solo ranks, Robert Medson and Dakota Ballantyne both made successful comebacks from injury at the opening meeting and will start as favourites on Saturday night with plenty of interest in the appearance of three graduates from the junior ranks, Mitchell Grech, Brayden McGuinness and Declan Knowles. Knowles, formerly from Western Australia but now living in Swan Hill, won the Australian 250cc Championship at Gillman last season.

Jack Norman is the favourite in the 250cc Solo races, ahead of Connor Bailey, Liam May and Fraser Bowes, while Bailey will be the favourite in junior 125cc Solo races which take part on the infield track during the brief track grades. To complete a busy night for Bailey, he’ll also be riding in the junior 250cc Sidecar races.

Everything You Need To Know:

Meeting Date: Saturday, 12 November 2016.

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

Gates open: at 5 pm.

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:

500cc Solos: Luke Bacskai, Dakota Ballantyne, Mitchell Grech, Seth Hickey, Declan Knowles (Vic), Brayden McGuinness, Robert Medson.

Sidecars: Tom Adams/Katelyn Silvy, Chris Bichard/Brett Lewis, Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh, Steve Browne/Colby Higgins (SA/Vic), Clinton Crabb/Michael Bell, Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts (Vic), Stephen Fowler/Benny Goodridge, Mal Greig/Ayrton Canning, Neale Hancock/Brendon Johnson (Vic), Aaron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr (SA/Vic), Paul Hemsworth/Don Morris (NSW), Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards, Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear, Justin Plaisted/Cec Fraser, Mark Radford/Blake Halls (Vic/NSW), Aaron Silvy/Adam Pascoe, Brian Silvy/Josh Knott, Mick Tucker/Jack Tucker.

250cc Solos: Connor Bailey (Vic), Fraser Bowes, Liam May, Jack Norman.

125cc Solos: Connor Bailey (Vic), Patrick Bowes, Hugh Evans, Jackson Milner, Teagan Pedler, Nicholas Possingham, Jack Sadler, Angus Vandenberg.

250cc Sidecars: Jake Arbon/Adam Niesche, Connor Bailey/Jackson Milner (Vic), Charlie Stewart/Jack Tovarra.

Admission: Adults $25, Age Pension and Student Concession $20, Children aged 12-15 $5, Children Under 12 free, Family $55. Programme $5. Grandstand seating $5. Parking free.

Concession is limited to holders of the Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card and Student Concession card holders only.

Seating: Grandstand seating (limited to 216 people). There are large grassed viewing mounds and terracing suitable for deck chairs.

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. “Gillman has far and away the best speedway tucker” [Peter White’s Speedway World]

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.

Weather Forecast: Maximum 20, minimum 14. Medium chance of showers late evening. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]

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 from the airport, 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 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 offers a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the motel direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab. An exciting new accommodation venue will be opening near the track before the next meeting (26 November). Full details on the Gillman Speedway website next week.

Contact for this meeting: Speedway Manager, David Parker 0403 364 658

Photo: Opening night Sidecar action from Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh (red) and Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr (yellow). Photo by JDM Photos.