Treloar/Cox, Headland/Whetstone finish 1-2 again at Gillman - March 2016

March 28, 2016 by Gillman Media

Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox and Trent Headland finished first and second in the first round of the Oceania Speedway Sidecar Championship at Gillman Speedway last night, repeating the result of the World Cup final the night before.

Treloar/Cox top scored again in the heats with 14 points, beaten only by Warren Monson/Matt Morgan in heat 19, but second place in that race still gave Treloar first choice of gate position in the final.

Headland/Whetstone were the second highest scorers with 13, beaten by Treloar and reserves Shane Hudson/Eli Wright in heat six, and the third automatic qualifiers for the final, on countback ahead of Mark Plaisted/Darcy Risstrom, were Monson/Morgan. Monson and Plaisted both scored 12 points, but Monson’s came from four heat wins and an exclusion. The exclusion came in his third ride when when he got out of shape and lost passenger Morgan while well in front of Headland

The countback relegated Plaisted/Risstrom to the Semi-Final which they had no trouble winning ahead of a fast-finishing Andrew Buchanan/Brady Cox (8 pts) with Dylan Blain/Hamish Golding (8) third and Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear (10) non-finishers.

Just missing a place in the semi-final were Kiwis Derek Ramsay/Matthew Ramsay and Aiden Thwaites/Shane Twiss on 7 points.

In the final, Treloar took red, Headland blue, Monson white and Plaisted was left with yellow. The start of the final was fairly predictable once Monson and Treloar gated the best. They were side-by-side through the first two turns and Treloar took Monson high through turn two, which left plenty of room for Headland to try for the inside pass on both and he almost succeeded. He got under Monson but not quite under Treloar, and from that point there were no changes as Treloar lead all the way from the hard chasing Headland with Plaisted third ahead of Monson who was relegated to last place when he hit the fence on the back straight during the hectic first lap scramble for positions.

The second, and final round, of the championship takes place at Undera Park Speedway in Victoria next Saturday night (2 April). Treloar leads the series with 18 points, ahead of Headland 16, Plaisted 14 and Monson 13.

Last night’s meeting was the last of the season at Gillman, but the speedway management said they will be back bigger and better next season with negotiations under way for more international events. The season will start with the annual Classic meeting on 15 October, and end with the Australian Sidecar Championship next Easter (16 April 2017).