SPEEDWAY WEEK KICKS OFF WITH PROCOAT SIDECAR INVITATIONAL

sidecars 6

SPEEDWAY WEEK KICKS OFF WITH PROCOAT SIDECAR INVITATIONAL

Mildura’s Olympic Park Stadium will begin an amazing week of speedway this coming Sunday, 3rd April, when it hosts the Procoat – Mildura Sidecar Invitational meeting, as a prelude to the 2016 Australian Sidecar Championships, which will be conducted over the following weekend.

Stars from the major speedway States will be engaged in the “last chance” to come to terms with Mildura’s technical Olympic Park circuit prior to the Title weekend, so the Invitational meeting will be a must for patrons of Olympic Park.

Some carnage over last weekend, from both the World Cup Sidecar meeting and round one of the Oceania series, both held at Gillman Speedway, has seen some riders repairing bodies and machines prior to the 2016 Riordan’s Paint & Panel Australian Championship in Mildura on 8th and 9th April.

2016 FIM World Cup winners, Darrin Treloar / Blake Cox, head the fine list of riders with second place men, Trent Headland / Daz Whetstone also in contention. Defending Australian Champions, Justin Plaisted / Sam Harrison will command some respect, especially as they did not line up in the Gillman event and fellow SA team of Damien Niesche / Mitch Spear, will be keen to turn around some poor form from last week. Adelaide’s Shane Rudloff / Scott Morris, along with Headland / Whetstone add to a quality listing from SA, with any of the group likely to be a podium chance. Headland, the younger and UK passenger, Whetstone, are a solid team now after having a good result in the 2015 Championship at Alice Springs. They were fast on the open expanse of Arunga Park then and have been fast for all of this year. They rode some fast lines in the FIM Meeting last week at Gillman and were a worthy second place to Treloar / Cox.

Sydney visitors, along with the “King” Treloar, Shane Hudson / Eli Wright, showed from the Reserve spot at last weekend’s FIM Meeting that they are a force to be reckoned with while a strong contingent comes down from Queensland to contest all the Mildura events.

Dave Bottrell and son, Chris, like Hudson, were only in a Reserve berth last week but collected six points from just three rides in the FIM Meeting, so the Bottrells bring good form with them to Victoria. Bottrell, who has taken a second place in the Australian Championship previously, really likes Olympic Park and in the past has performed very well when riding Mildura. It is expected that he will be in the top seven for both the Procoat Invitational as well as the Title events over the following weekend.

Joining “Botts” from up north are Dylan Blain / Hamish Golding, who were seeded into the FIM meeting from their good result in the Nationals last season and Tyler Moon / Adam Lovell, with rider Moon being the son of former Sidecar “great” and 1991 Aussie Champ, the late, Gary Moon. Former local, Rob Patterson, now with another of Gary’s sons, Jack Moon, in the chair just adds to the list of talent from the Sunshine State. Blain has a nice connection to Mildura with his recently late Grandfather, John Blain, being a former Mayor of Mildura and to have some more Moons in any program can only enhance the integrity of any meeting anywhere in Australia, given the decent man who was the late, Gary Moon.

Mildura’s array of Sidecar talent will be strong with Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin, Neale Hancock / Brendan “Tubs” Johnson, Clint Mayes / Sean Coleby as well as Nathan Cock / Kane McMahon and Dale Milner / Brock Gates adding to the list.

Hancock / Johnson have been seeded directly into the Australian Championship next week, so do not have to ride the Qualifying meeting, as a result, they will be using Sunday night as their final run prior to the Title event. They are fresh from a win in the “King of the Hill” Sidecar event held in Broken Hill two weeks ago, so good form is currently on their side. Neale and Tubs are a good pair on the machine and they will expect a place in the Invitational Finals, or, even better, a podium place at the end of the Procoat meeting.

Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin have been riding in good form from the middle of the season and they are a cool pair in a crisis, so they have a great chance of finishing in the top third of the field and a possible podium spot. Gates has been on top of his game as a former Victorian Champion and he is well settled with Micky O, as his fearless passenger. They should expect to do well and represent Mildura proudly as they ride against some of the best Sidecar exponents in the country.

Clint Mayes and Sean Coleby are just a new pairing this season, but their form is great; as though they have been riding together for years. Clint took a small sabbatical and now with a new machine, the new combination have gelled into an effective team, winning many races this year and taking finals positions regularly. It is expected that the Mayes / Coleby team will make it very difficult for many riders, who, it would be suggested, have far better speedway credentials. Sean Coleby has shifted to Mildura with his work and it is fortunate for the Club that he has a strong background in sidecar racing, mostly in the south of the State, so he is a valuable addition to the sport in Sunraysia.

Nathan Cock / Kane McMahon and Dale Milner, this time with Brock Gates in the chair, add to the depth of the field, bringing a strong local presence. Both teams will need some luck to make it into any main event, but will, by their good riding, certainly shape the way that many of the other rider’s points settle. Cock, in particular, is learning his race craft well, especially being trained under the watchful eye of his Father-in-law, Wayne Bradshaw, one of the most experienced Sidecar riders in the Club. Nathan is a patient young man and his skill and speed improve with every meeting.

Dale Milner has Brock Gates as his passenger and the Gates name will be enough to suggest that Brock will be able to read the race action and position himself in the place where Dale might want him on most occasions.

A good line up of Classic Sidecars will ride in support of the Invitational with Greg Griffiths / Nathan McFadden coming down from Sydney for about the fourth time this year. The Griffith’s “Water Bottle” Father / Son team will be joined trackside by the Mildura machines of Simon Cohrs / Reece Farr, Brothers Dale and Jason Milner, another Father / Son team of Rod and Brodie Gebhart and new Classic combination of Chris Wakefield and former Solo rider, Chris Ferguson, who like his Dad, Robert before him, is taking to the three wheeled way of going.

Patrons are reminded that “Summer time” concludes on Saturday night, so darkness will be one hour earlier on Sunday 3rd April. As a consequence of the darkness, the Olympic Park Senior event will begin at 7:00pm Sharp.  A Junior program will precede the Senior event at around 5:45pm with a Senior Rider Introduction getting under way at 6:45 pm.

Patrons are reminded that full grandstand facilities are available again and occupation of the stands is FREE. Patrons should understand that Olympic Park is fully catered with good food and drinks outlets and that there must be No BYO by Law.

Gates will open at 4:30pm for the meeting will begin at 7:00pm, Eastern Standard Time.

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