Gillman Speedway Classic Championships - October 2017

October 24, 2017 by Gillman Media

Despite a cold and windy night, a very good crowd turned up at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night for the annual Gillman Speedway Classic Championships meeting.

After 37 heats, the first of the finals to come to the tapes was the Two Valve Solo Championship for riders aged 40 and over, which stylish WA rider Kevin Webb had no trouble winning, with Kerry Marsh getting the better of another WA rider, Barry Kennington, for second, with Kennington third and Victorian Dave Wheatland fourth after getting into the final ahead of Frank Graham on a countback. Webb also received the Jeff Fisher Perpetual Trophy for winning this class. The trophy is awarded to acknowledge Fisher’s dedication to this meeting since its inception, first as a rider and now as an organiser and bike owner, with many of the riders using his bikes.

The 2 Valve Solo Championship for riders aged under 40 was contested by four current-day riders, and 17-year-old Brayden McGuinness had no trouble going through the card unbeaten. Likewise Arlo Bugeja was untroubled to finish second in each race, but Seth Hickey and Blake Ridley had some close races for the third placings with Hickey coming out on top in the final after an exciting last lap which saw them collide at one point when they were shoulder-to-shoulder.

The 4 Valve Upright Solo Championship had current-day British League rider Robert Branford taking on four former North Arm Speedway riders, Ashley Norton, Steven Graetz, Darryl Christopher and Gary Fischer (who still rides at Gillman on a regular basis). Branford was an obvious favourite and cleared out to win the first heat, but had engine failure at the start of the second and was out for the night. In his absence Norton and Graetz each had a win over the other in heats two and three, and a thrilling finish loomed in the final when Graetz drew level on the outside of Norton and they were shoulder-to shoulder between turns one and two on the third lap only for Graetz to suffer an engine failure, leaving Norton to win with Christopher second.

Norton also won the non-championship Solo laydown (rider aged 40 or over) class with ease from Paul Wheatland and Ross Noble who had some good scraps for second and third all night.

The popular British/European/American Sidecar Championship saw George Atherton/Geordie Luckett on the Geoff Baran 850 supercharged Norton take on the Vincents of Peter Tolley/Sean Chapman and Rory McEnroe/Chris Walker, and McEnroe looked like the early favourite after the three met in their first heat and he scored a good win, although he was excluded for going infield after some hectic first corner action. With three points dropped, a second place to Tolley in his second ride meant he still had a little work to do to qualify for the final, but disappointingly he didn’t appear again after that race. Tolley and Atherton had some good scraps, none better than heat three when Tolley was alongside Atherton for the last quarter-of-a-lap and won by the narrowest of margins, brushing the fence as the race finished. The final was to a large extent all about who could make the gate and after they collided in turn one in the first attempt, it was Tolley (with substitute passenger Don Morris replacing Chapman who fell in one of the Japanese class heats) who got the upper hand and led all the way to win ahead of Atherton and Clinton Crabb/Dave Kernohan.

The Japanese Sidecar Championship had the biggest number of bikes with twelve and some close racing and a bunched scorechart required a countback to determine the fourth finalist. There was no doubt about the first three however with defending champions Greg Griffiths/Nathan McFadden unbeaten on 9 points, ahead of Chris Wakefield/Naomi Bullock 8 and Aaron Silvy/Jaron Speyer-Silvy on 7. Two time winner Mick Tucker/Michael Bell, Ronny Parker/Brenton Marsh and Rocky Warren/Adam Lange all finished on 6 points, and all with a first, second and third, but it was Parker who got into the final having beaten the other two in the heats. Griffiths was obviously the favourite for the final but a win looked unlikely in the early stages when he missed a gear through turns one/two and was back in third with Wakefield and Silvy dicing for the lead, but he got under Silvy in turn four, lap two and then around Wakefield at the end of lap three to score his third successive win in the event, joining George Atherton (2005-07) and Moz Pridham (2010-12) as a three-time winner. Wakefield won the race for second with Silvy third and Parker a distant fourth after a very slow start left him a quarter-of-a-lap behind for the whole race.

Victorians Paul Donnelly/Jake Roberts had won all their heat races (apart from one infield exclusion) for the previous three years in the Evolution Sidecar Championship without winning any of the deciding finals, and went through the heats unbeaten again on Saturday night but this time they also managed to win the final, winning by a big margin from Clinton Crabb/Dave Kernohan and Ricky Adams/Alice Cox. Mal Greig/Ayrton Canning, on the Yamaha 500 grass track bike, was clearly the second fastest rider in the heats but unfortunately for him he could not get the bike to fire up for the final.

The last of the finals decided was the Post Classic Sidecar and this was another clean sheet with the super smooth Kym McConnell/Shane Edwards going through the card on McConnell’s beautifully restored Yamaha TZ700. One of Australia’s best riders in the 1970s, McConnell was never challenged and won the final by 60 metres ahead of defending champions Dean Hobbs/Justin Richards and Ron Parker/Brenton Marsh, with Chris Bichard/Brett Lewis non-finishers on the ex-Taylor Team Yamaha.

The meeting also had some demonstration events by the Three Quarter Midgets (TQs) reviving memories of their hey-day at Rowley Park and a host of country tracks in the 1960s.

The Bruce Kelley Trophy for outstanding service at Gillman Speedway went to classic sidecar rep Tony Watter.

The next Gillman meeting is the Jack Young Cup/Australian World Cup Team fundraiser on 4 November, featuring Jason Doyle, Sam Masters, Rohan Tungate and Nick Morris. Overseas fans will be able to follow the meeting with live results from the newly installed electronic timing by viewing the “speedhive” website. It is a free service and fans can also download a copy of the meeting programme from the Gillman Speedway website for $5.50.