Local Sidecars Win Four Team Tournament

LOCAL SIDECARS WIN FOUR TEAM TOURNAMENT

A thrilling MacU Kitchens Sidecar 4 Team Tournament was won at Mildura’s Olympic Park speedway last night by the local Gamweld Industries team, captained by former Victorian Champions, Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin. An all local lineup included Neale Hancock / Brendan Johnson, AJ Pearce / Brodie Gebhart and Nathan Cock / Kane McMahon, who all contributed well to an overall 35 point score to win the Tournament by three points, in an exciting night of racing.

A fabulous Bridgestone Mildura East Tyres Motorcross Mayhem satisfied the good and supportive crowd, who totally enjoyed the exploits of some of the finest Dirt Track riders in the land. Many individual, family, work and just friendly contests were amongst the competitors, who worked hard all night to gain authority. The noise from the crowd was audible above the buzz of the sixteen motorcycles, which were on full throttle for much of the night. The Mayhem was dominated by the Waters brothers, with the youngest, Nick, taking the overall points win.

In the 4TT, scores remained close for much of the night until the Sunraysia Diesel Service team Blue, dropped 6 points behind the Red team after eleven heats had been run. This allowed the Blue team to play their “Joker” at the meeting where team Captain Klae Hobbs / Jack Spear rode their heat for double points. Hobbs went on to win and his 6 point score brought his team closer to the others, even though they failed to capitalize overall and finished fourth on 24 points at night’s end.

Team Red was able to extend their lead until heat 16, which was the last opportunity to play a Joker. Both Team White, Deakin Motorcycles and Team Yellow, Nickz Automotive, were the required 6 points in arrears of the leaders at that time and decided to both play their Joker.

A great result for both Joker players saw the Yellow captain, Warren Monson / Matt Morgan take the win over Team White’s, Mick and Jesse Headland, scoring six points and four points respectively, which shortened up the scores somewhat and gave all three leading teams the chance of an overall win with good results in the final four rounds.

Racing was fast, with riders using the heats as a chance to collect points for their teams and also to enjoy the time out on the Olympic Park circuit to gain experience, among tough competition, of the track surface and conditions for use later on in the 2016 Australian Sidecar Championships, which will be held at Mildura on 8th and 9th April this year.

The track provided good grip, especially early in the night, where the better riders were able to exploit the conditions to their team’s advantage. Later in the night the outside dirt was deeper, but the best riders still used that dirt to their advantage. In teams racing it is vital that every rider does their best to get a maximum points return for the team. A win is great, but getting two points for a second place is still better than being easily beaten into fourth place, where no points are given. It is often the team who scores down the list and has team depth, which does best in teams racing.

It was clear that team Red were the most consistent with all four riders contributing to the overall score. Unfortunately for team White, led by dual World Champions, Mick and Jesse Headland, their chances were diminished when Radford / Halls had to withdraw from the meeting after two rounds, not having contributed any team points.

The format does not allow for a reserve to be used in this case and the three SA team members, the Headlands, Bichard / Schultz and Puddy / Egan, performed excellently to take second place overall with just three riders being points contributors. It was clear from the crowd’s supportive reaction many times during the night that Teams racing has a place in our speedway program.

Constant spectator interest is created when there is a team rider to support in every one of the twenty heats. Once enough heats have been conducted the Joker can be brought into play for extra crowd interest. It is unusual for three teams to be able to play a Joker during meetings such as this, but when one team remains in front for most of the program, the chance to play the Joker for the other three teams becomes more of a possibility.

The support events were well received by patrons as two rows of Motorcross machines lined up at the tapes for four very hectic laps of Mayhem was enjoyed. The lead riders were the Waters brothers, with youngest brother Nick winning three of the four rounds ahead of middle brother, Brodie, with elder brother Josh, finishing third on all occasions. Some good work was put in too by Desert Rat, Nathan Trigg, old stager, Jason Stewart, Logan Coombes, Brad Lohmann, Brock Gates and Jesse Headland who hopped off his father’s Sidecar to come out and play in the opposite direction. Jordan Giddings, the Penny boys, Matt and Cam, Hannah Holmes, Troy Knights and the night’s main sponsor, MacU Kitchen’s, Simon McCarthy, all enjoyed their ride, albeit from the second row of the grid.

The only hiccup for the night was when veteran Jason Stewart clipped the fence on the back straight and fell, with the result that he was given a couple of good clouts in the back and the young Brad Lohmann went over the top of Stewart, who was concussed, falling heavily on his shoulder and upper arm. The event was stopped and the Ambulance service in attendance took care of the injured riders, with Lohmann being taken to Hospital for further treatment and X-rays. The re-run of the event was not subdued in the slightest as just a fewer number took part.

An invitation event, with the winner taking the Bridgestone Mildura East tyre prize was won by Nick Waters, ahead of his older brothers with Nathan Trigg, once again just behind in fourth place.

The Gates / O’Loughlin combo stepped up also in the MacU Kitchens Invitation feature event, which was held outside the bounds of the 20 heat Tournament event. The four team captains were invited into the Feature race to finish the program, with just an extra purse available. The points scores for each captain were used as the basis for selection of gate position.

The unbeaten Warren Monson chose gate two, while Mick Headland selected gate one. Byren Gates took gate four which left Klae Hobbs to the number three gate. From the start a big charge was on between Monson and Headland towards turn one, while Gates had slightly missed the beginning, but was able to drop down towards the pole line as Monson and Headland worried about each other and drifted higher on the race line. Gates saw his opportunity with the main contenders drifting high, he, with the assistance of an ever ready passenger in Mick O’Loughlin drove down on a tight pole line run and exited turn two with a considerable advantage. A massive roar from the crowd greeted the Gates / O’Loughlin move as they charged down the back straight for the first time. Try as they might, neither Monson, who charged hard, or Headland, who could never get on terms with Monson, let alone the leader Gates could not catch the flying Gates. They finished in that order with Gates riding superb lines, covering any possible move by the other former Victorian Champion, Monson, back then to the Headlands and Hobbs / Spear, who trying all the way.

Great celebrations were in order as Gates / O’Loughlin have obvious views towards a chance at an Australian Title on their home track in a few weeks time.

Next event at Olympic Park will be the Kellys Panel Refinishers, “Dudley Bradshaw – Sidecar Shootout”, to be held on Saturday 27th February. More top riders are expected for this meeting with many of last night’s NSW Sidecar Championship contenders already nominated so as they can get their Olympic Park track time organized prior to the April Australian Sidecar Championship.

Quick Links

Membership

CONTACT US