Mark Plaisted and Ben Pitt win Bowes Family Sidecar Cup

Gillman Media 6 February 2024

Mark Plaisted and Ben Pitt added another trophy to their already impressive collection with their first victory in the Bowes Family Sidecar Cup at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night (3 February).

As current, and three-time, Australian Champions they would have been favourites to win against any opposition, but as it was things were made a little easier with the loss of two of their main opposition.

Firstly defending Cup holders Mick Headland and Brenton Kerr were forced to withdraw earlier in the week, and Mick had to sit on the sidelines, albeit in the comfort of the Bob White VIP area, and watch Mark take the trophy.

Then on the night Mark’s brother Justin Plaisted looked like a serious challenger. Justin, the 2015 Australian Champion, was making a comeback on a new bike, with Damian Egan as passenger, and recorded two heat wins in fast times, and recorded the fastest lap of the night, then he was out for the rest of the meeting with an engine problem.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Mark however, as he was outgated by Nate Headland/Jack Spear and Nathan Fleet/Cameron Diwell in his final heat. He was quickly past both down the back straight and into turn three, but the yellow helmet colour light came on to indicate an exclusion as he had cut the corner in turn two.

That left him on 12 points, and not as the highest point scorer.

That honour went to outsiders Dean Hobbs and Daniel Low, with 13 points in a career best night.

Interstater readers may be surprised to see Hobbs/Low atop the score chart but it wasn’t a great shock to regulars at Gillman who have been expecting something like this since they were the outstanding competitors in the qualifying meeting for the 2022 Australian Championship. On that night they came in as reserves and scored 10 points from four rides, and they were expected to step up a level after that, but a number of factors, basically a mix of mechanical woes, injury, and just plain lack of consistency have prevented them from stringing together five top rides, or as it was on Saturday night, six with another good ride in the final.

Joining Hobbs/Low and Plaisted/Pitt as direct qualifiers for the final were Kym Menadue and Shane Dolan on 12 points.

Menadue/Dolan dropped their three points to Justin Plaisted/Egan, Mark Plaisted/Pitt and Hobbs/Low, while Hobbs/Low had been beaten only by Mark Plaisted/Pitt and Victorian hard charger Chris Walker.

Walker, with local passenger Eric Melton, had a mixed night, with engine trouble and an infield exclusion in their first three rides restricting them to just 2 points, but they recovered to win their last two rides to finish with 8 points which was enough to get the last qualifying place for the semi-final ahead of Aaron Silvy/Jaron Silvy on countback.

Also in the semi-final were Trent Headland/April Cottrell and Nate Headland/Jack Spear on 10, and Nathan Fleet/Cameron Diwell on 9.

The Headlands, father and son, had identical scores, both scoring two wins, two seconds and an infield exclusion, but Trent’s came when he was leading his fourth ride so he could have/should have finished on 13 points and that made him the favourite for the semi-final, which he duly won easily with Walker second, Nate Headland third and Fleet retiring with bike trouble.

Unfortunately that was the end of Trent Headland’s night as the bike stopped as they came out of the pit gates for the final and they could not get it to restart.

The final produced one of the best races of the night . . . but it was only for second place!

Plaisted and Pitt led all the way for the win but Hobbs/Low and Menadue/Dolan were side by side, dicing for second, for the full four laps, with Menadue/Dolan getting home by about a wheel length, or 0.096 of a second by the transponder times.

The meeting didn’t start on a good note, especially for Byron Mordaunt/William Lepoidevin who got filled in, couldn’t see and hit the fence on the first lap of the meeting. Fortunately they were not injured but bike damage put them out for the night. Also in the photo are Chris Walker/Eric Melton (red), Nate Headland/Jack Spear (blue) and Wayne Lethbridge/Grantley Simounds (yellow). Photo by Judy Mackay.

In the support events, Kyle Machin, making his first appearance for the season, was unbeaten in the Flat Track Solo races, and won the final ahead of Seane Chapman, Dale Knights, Graeme Eberhard, Greg Laanekorb and Matt Paterson, while Kristy Schultz won the consolation after a race long duel with Con Twist; and 10-year-old Ryleigh McGregor went through the Under 16 125cc Solo events unbeaten for the second meeting in a row. Hayden Pascoe finished second, Hayden Kuchel third and Connor Machin fourth in the final, and Riley Stout won the consolation ahead of Ruby Chapman and William Nicol.

There is now a three week break until the next meeting, the Safe Fire Electrical South Australian Sidecar Championship on February 24.