Dakota Ballantyne, Keynan Rew, Patrick Bowes winners of Gillman Solo Championships - February 2017

February 19, 2017 by Gillman Media

Another entertaining night at Gillman Speedway last night culminated with a decisive victory for Dakota Ballantyne in the Gillman Speedway 500cc Solo Championship.

Going into the meeting there was no clear cut favourite as the race wins, and the placings, had been well spread between Robert Medson, Dakota Ballantyne, Brayden McGuinness and Arlo Bugeja in recent meetings, with results changing from race to race, and the heat races last night continued in the same way with those four and Western Australian Under 21 champion Blake Russell all taking heat wins.

Medson had looked really sharp at practice on Thursday night and when he won the opening heat in a fast time he was looking the goods, but Ballantyne came out and won heat two in a faster time and then beat Medson after a thrilling dice in heat three, to become the meeting favourite.

But, as has happened all season, the results were reversed in their next ride with Medson beating Ballantyne by half a bike length, and the title was up for grabs again.

Brayden McGuinness then made the likely outcome even more confusing by beating Medson by a similar margin in heat seven to suddenly come into contention after a slow start in which he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and was pushed out and forced to back off a couple of times.

After the eight heats, Ballantyne was the top scorer with 11 out of a possible 12 points, with Medson (10) and Bugeja (8) the other direct qualifiers for the final.

Blake Russell (7), whose final aspirations were upset by a pointless third ride behind Medson, Ballantyne and McGuinness, McGuinness (5), Declan Knowles (4) and Seth Hickey (2, winner of the qualifying final) fronted for the last chance semi-final, and after Russell fell in turn two and was excluded it was McGuinness who led all the way to grab the last spot in the final.

The Final looked to be anyone’s race on paper, but on the track it was a different story as Ballantyne went around Medson through turn four and then pulled away for an impressive win, while the other three diced for the minor placings with Medson eventually finishing second, Bugeja third and McGuinness fourth. [Top photo: Dakota Ballantyne (blue) leads Robert Medson (red) and Arlo Bugeja (yellow) in the final. Photo by Judy Mackay.]

The Under 16 250cc and 125cc riders were also competing for their own Gillman Championship honours, and the winners were Keynan Rew (250) and Patrick Bowes (125).

Queenslander Rew was a hot favourite for the 250 class and that didn’t look likely to chance when he scored an easy win in the opening heat, but Connor Bailey gave him something to think about by winning the next three races, the third of which was awarded with Rew excluded after they were side by side on the last lap and Rew lifted and caused Bailey to fall. Rew then regrouped to win the final two heats and the final with Bailey second. Tom Dixon and Liam May had several close races during the night, including in the final with Dixon coming out on top on that occasion for third with May fourth.

Fraser Bowes, who has been matching it with Bailey in recent meetings, and in the opening heat last night, was forced out after three rides with bike problems, but in his absence younger brother Patrick kept the family flag flying with victory in the 125cc Championship.

Bowes assumed favouritism for the event after Connor Bailey was unable to ride because of a blown motor, and top scored in the heats, but victory was looking in doubt in the final when Hugh Evans won the start and led for the first two laps. Evans wasn’t putting a foot wrong and Bowes could not find a way past until he was able to slip up the inside going into turn three on the third lap. Evans stayed with him to finish second with Jackson Milner third and Teagan Pedler fourth.

The supporting Sidecar class ran on the same format as the 500cc Solos, and at the end of a sometimes hectic eight heats, Shane Hudson/Jesse Headland were the top scorers with 11 points, followed by Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear (10) and Tim Bichard/Brenton Marsh (6) who got the third direct berth in the final on the toss of a coin from Kym Menadue/Eric Melton after a countback could not split them.

The first of the Sidecar finals, the Qualifying final, saw a surprise result when Brian Silvy/Josh Knott, after failing to score in the heats, led all the way to win ahead of the favourites Daniel Puddy/Luke Puddy. It was a class ride by Silvy, the best in his relatively short career, and he was on the pace in the Semi-Final as well which went to Klae Hobbs/Liam Cox (5 points) ahead of Menadue/Melton (6) and Silvy/Knott, with Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards spinning off the track on lap three.

The Final was always going to be between Hudson and Niesche, but like the Solo Final, one rider, Niesche, raced away for a comfortable win while the other three diced for the minor placings with Hudson coming home second and Bichard third after Bichard and Hobbs exchanged places twice in the last half a lap.

The Flat Track Solo demonstrations were also hectic at times, with a number of crashes, one of which saw Mount Gambier’s Lincoln Tucker taken to hospital with some broken ribs.