Keynan Rew winner of South Australian 250cc Solo Championship

December 30, 2017 by Gillman Media

Queensland rider Keynan Rew won the South Australian Under 16 250cc Solo Championship at Gillman Speedway on Thursday night (28 December) after a harum-scarum final which, in Rew’s words, “almost ended in tears”.

As expected the four finalists were Rew (11 points), fellow Queenslander Jacob Hook (8), and local riders Fraser Bowes (8) and Liam May (7, and winner of the semi-final).

Rew dropped just one point in the heats, to Hook in heat three and both riders were on 8 points (Hook beaten by Rew in heat 6) after three rides but Hook was excluded from his final heat when his bike failed coming out of the tapes and Bailey Viner clipped him and fell.

In the hectic final, Rew was slightly ahead of Bowes through turns one/two, with Hook going wide and losing ground and passed by May. Rew hit some unexpected drive in turn four and lifted slightly coming out of the turn, which took him wide and he clattered into the fence and bounced along it for about 30 metres which enabled Bowes to pass him but, against the odds, Rew managed to regain control near the start/finish line and he and Bowes were side by side on the second lap until turn four when Rew was able to regain the lead. Meanwhile Hook had managed to get around May coming out of turn four on the opening lap and was now just behind Rew and Bowes as they were wheel to wheel. A lap later Hook managed to get around Bowes in turn four and tried hard to pass Rew on the last lap, but similar to Rew earlier, he picked up drive out of the last corner and went into the fence. Again, like Rew, he somehow managed to keep control and at the finish there was only about 5 metres between Rew and Hook, and a further 5 metres to Bowes in third place.

Top photo: placegetters, left to right Liam May, Jacob Hook, Keynan Rew, Fraser Bowes. Photo by Judy Mackay.

While Rew and Hook managed to avoid crashing, several riders were not so fortunate in the heats with a couple taking a ride in the ambulance.

The first to go down was 13-year-old Bradley Page. From Newcastle, the lad was having his first ride at Gillman and fell heavily on the first lap of his first heat. He was badly winded and bruised but with no broken bones he insisted on taking his remaining rides so earned plenty of praise from the spectators.

Patrick Bowes was the next to go down, falling and sliding into the air fence while running third behind his brother Fraser and Liam May in heat four. After being down for quite a while he was able to get to his feet and walk back to the pits but he later went to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone.

The third and final rider to go down was Teagan Pedler in heat five. She was leading a wheel to wheel race with Patrick Hamilton and Bailey Viner when she lost control on the last lap and highsided. She smashed a brand new helmet and suffered concussion so spent the night in hospital for observation. She now has to return to hospital for further x-rays as she may have a fracture in her pelvis.

In the senior events the feature race winners were Robert Medson, Kym Menadue/Eric Melton and Andrew Gault/Jack Spear.

The 500cc Solos were down on numbers, with the late withdrawals of Max Fricke and Dakota Ballantyne, but there was some wheel to wheel racing between Medson, Brayden McGuinness and Arlo Bugeja in the Group 1 races. Medson, however, got the better of his rivals with wins in three of their four heats, with only the one loss to McGuinness in heat four, and won the final from McGuinness, Bugeja and Oliver Hamilton.

There was a surprise winner in the Group 1 Sidecar Final when Kym Menadue/Eric Melton won after Dave Bottrell/Chris Bottrell had dominated the heats.

Bottrell was unbeaten in the heats (12) but failed to come out for the final after suffering a clutch problem in the pits. That left Damien Niesche/Mitchell Spear (10), Menadue/Melton (8) and Nathan Cock/Jack Wilson (8) at the tapes, and while Niesche was the favourite, the in-form Menadue got the jump and led all the way for the win, with Niesche second and Cock third.

The highlight of the heats was the race between Bottrell and Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris in heat two when they were side by side for most of the race. Rudloff looked a big chance of overall honours after that ride but was off the pace for the rest of the night and only finished with 4 points.

The lowlight was a crash by Aaron Silvy/Jaron Speyer-Silvy in the opening heat. They required lengthy treatment but fortunately neither suffered any serious injuries.

The Group 2 Sidecars produced the closest racing of the night with only Tom Adams/Katelyn Silvy able to get any break on the others but again there was a surprise winner in the final with New South Wales rider Andrew Gault (local passenger Jack Spear) winning after failing to win a heat. Clinton Crabb/Michael Bell finished second and Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts third, with leading point scorer Adams a non-finisher.

Ricky Adams/Alice Cox and Darryll Woods/Will Walker top scored in the Group 3 Sidecars, but it was first time rider Nathan Fleet who caught the eye. Riding the only speedway BMW in South Australia, Fleet won his first two rides in fine style before being forced out with mechanical trouble. Fleet is a former Solo rider from North Arm Speedway in the mid 1990s, and a third generation rider, a son of former sidecar rider Peter Fleet, and grandson of Rowley Park rider Doug Fleet. Another former North Arm competitor from the same era, Glen Zaworksi, was his passenger.

On the infield junior track, Hugh Evans clean-sheeted in the 125cc Solo events, while Mark-John Papastamatis/- and Jackson Milner/Adam Niesche produced some exciting racing on the 250cc Sidecars but unfortunately both riders lost points through exclusions.