Sidecar action will erupt tomorrow night, as the sixteen best sidecar teams in Australia descend on Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway for Round Seven of the Sidecar Grand Slam.
The current World and five-time Australian champion pair of Darrin Treloar and Sam Gilbert will lead the talented field, which will also include two-time World Champions Mick Headland and Paul Waters.
Headland and Treloar have taken the only three World Championships to ever be decided, with Headland winning in England back in 2009, before backing up the following year in France, while Treloar winning his title back in November at Murray Bridge.
Fellow five-time Australian champions Glenn O’Brien and Aaron Maynard will also be using their knowledge and liking of the Olympic Park circuit to be at the top of the stack. O’Brien still holds the four lap track record at Mildura – a record he has held since his halcyon days during 1996.
Queenslanders, Brodie Cohen and Cal Campbell have been a successful pairing in the core group of the Grand Slam team and have, along with Trent and Jesse Headland, been ever present in recent finals. Both these young teams are the future of Australian Sidecar racing and all eyes will be on them for good signs ahead.
Mildura pair, Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin, have been core members of the travelling Grand Slam, and have had some good meetings along the way. The contracted Gates/O’Loughlin combination started the rounds in great form, being the finalists in the early meetings in Queensland. They will want to assert some authority over the Mildura meeting, showing all the, perhaps higher regarded teams that there is a faster local way around Olympic Park..
The Mildura round promises to be the toughest of the series so far, with the inclusion of not only the fast Kiwi team of Andrew Buchanan and Philippa Burns, but also all of Mildura’s regulars. The New Zealand couple have ridden well at Olympic Park on two previous occasions and have jumped at the chance to “cross the ditch” to run again amongst their new found friends.
All of the Mildura teams will be geared up to take some big scalps, with in-form pairs Mayes/Summerhayes, Bradshaw/Behsmann, Holmes/Hancock and Monson (now with temporary passenger Matt Morgan), all keen on a good showing in front of the home crowd. Any of these local combinations could cause problems as far as the top teams are concerned.
Travelling teams will also be looking to impress, with Shepparton duo, Mal German and Steven Stagg, Broken Hill’s, Rick Stevens and Dean Hobbs, and Adelaide’s, Shane Evans and Alan Gale to also be in the mix for good points.
Also included in the field will be the composite teams of Adelaide’s, Chris Pascoe and Mildura Motorcycle Club vice-president, Simon Cohrs, who will be hoping to reproduce their fine form of last year, where they did well in the Australian Championships and the World Titles.
Gates will also be looking to regain his form from the World Titles, which he rode with his recently injured brother, Deven, who is Warren Monson’s regular passenger. Deven and Warren had a big crash in Round Six of the Grand Slam, with Gates sustaining a broken leg.
The other composite team of former Australian champion passenger Justin Plaisted and Mildura local Mark Lucas will also be one to watch, with Plaisted stepping into the rider’s seat. Lucas is a brilliant passenger and teamed with a former expert passenger, now changed to manning the throttle, Lucas will assist Plaisted greatly in reading the track conditions well.
There are some very tough riders in the field, with no ‘beg-pardons’ expected. Plaisted, German, Monson and Stephens are all in a group where some contact seems to be accepted.
The sheer power, speed and technique of either team of Headlands, O’Brien, Treloar and Buchanan, along with the local experience of the Mildura riders, will give the meeting two areas of expertise for Sunraysia patrons to focus on. A full 20 heat program, plus a semi-final and a final will be used to determine the top dog at the Mildura venue.
Headland/Waters, Treloar/Gilbert and O’Brien/Maynard have played out much of the finals activity to date, with the local knowledge of all Mildura teams always to come to the fore.
Olympic Park gates will open from 5pm, with senior practice to take place at 5.45pm. A small junior meeting will follow, before a rider introduction at 7.20pm.
The Grand Slam will commence at 7.30pm, and will include some classic sidecars as support. Olympic Park has a full catering service available, with patrons reminded that there is no BYO by law.

A quality field has been put together for the 2011 Victorian Solo Speedway Championship at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway on Saturday night.

Heading the stack is veteran Merbein rider, Mark Lemon, who has twice been the Victorian Solo Champion. Lemon rode last week in the Leigh Adams benefit meeting in Adelaide and was joint top points scorer, when riding in his first meeting for a couple of months. Lemon only arrived in Australia last week to ride the Adams meeting, so was still jet lagged for the Gillman meet, where he finished contesting the “A” final.

In other top news for the Australian International, he has been appointed by MA, as the Australian Speedway Team Manager for the forthcoming season, which is a wonderful position for the well travelled star. Lemon will bring a tenacity to the Australian team, which has been missing for a while. He will be a good Team Manager, and hopefully can refocus the Aussies to the form which they had as a team, a decade ago.

The younger riders will not want to see Lemon get it all his own way and the likes of Cory Gathercole, Justin Sedgmen, Tom Hedley and Robert Ksiezak, will be doing their best to take the main prize and a podium position.

Gathercole, the 2007, WA and Victorian Champion, has returned to Mildura after a couple of consistent seasons in England. He is now a regular top scorer for his Premier league team, Somerset, scoring 7.75 points average and collects good points for his Elite League Club, Swindon. Cory would be expected to be a huge threat for top place on the podium given his recent form and skills, especially after the “double up” job he does for both the “Rebels” and the “Robins” in the Elite and Premier Leagues.

The younger Sedgmen brother, Justin, came home from England quite a few weeks ago, stale from the grind of continual racing. He has cleared his head by working at his regular job in Mildura and just last week collected his machinery, which has been freighted from England for his assault on both the Victorian and Australian Championships as they come along. He rode very well in Adelaide last weekend and will be a force to be reckoned with. A specialist at Olympic Park, Justin will join Gathercole as a favourite for a podium place.

Former International Tom Hedley and SA rider, Rob Ksiezak, will be keen to put themselves in contention for a podium spot, with some good consistent riding while Mark Jones, Ryan Sedgmen, Dakota North and Jake Anderson, will be amongst the other younger riders willing to take points from any riders in the field. Ksiezak has recovered from a broken leg and will be looking to gain form ready for another assault on the British League, while Jones, is a skillful rider who, like North, could be a surprise packet in the field. A much more relaxed Ryan Sedgmen, will battle with most riders as will, Jake Anderson, who has stayed in Australia this past season, working to better fund his racing.

Another veteran, Jason Stewart, can never been discounted, as he is a most talented rider, who always makes the most of his opportunities. Stewart is a fast racer, who always gives his best. He will often take the wide line in the corners, riding, using much of his Long Track experience, to his advantage. Stewart has a “never give in” attitude, but his different lines to other riders often see him “slip by” when the riders are not expecting to be passed.

Brock Gates and Chris Ferguson have good experience at Mildura and could easily figure in taking significant points from any riders who happen to struggle on the night, while Michael King will be an unknown quantity at the tight Olympic Park circuit. Adam Briggs will use his small previous experience at Mildura to his best advantage.

The youngsters in the field are Brenton Barnfield, who took a baptism of fire last season when he came into the Australian Title field at Kurri Kurri and performed creditably, until a spill saw him break a wrist and put him out of action. Barnfield is an accomplished rider, who has learned that patience is a great virtue on the race track.

Along with Barnfield, is the newest graduate to the senior scene, Brayden Paver. The elder boy in the Paver family has been riding his 350 machine for some time while practicing on the senior bike at meetings through the winter. Brayden will look after himself, knowing that he is in the field for the enjoyment and the experience in top company.

All twenty Title heats will be exciting, as riders push for supremacy. It will be great to see some veteran riders, along with absolute new comers to contest the 2011 Title, which will be decided after the top four point scorers have completed the all important Championship Final at the end of the night.

Support events for the Title meeting will be a mix of Sidecars, with Mildura teams of Jason Bradshaw / Steve Behsmann, Clint Mayes / Andrew Summerhayes and Simon and Mark Cohrs being the locals who are pitted against the Darren Howes / Matt Ward and the Daniel Stephens teams from Broken Hill. Racing in the three wheeled class will be fast and furious as always. Nomination support from these Sidecar teams is highly valued by the Club.

A Junior meeting, starting at 6:30pm, will be the curtain raiser for the main event, which will get under way with a rider presentation at 7:20pm and Senior racing set to follow at 7:30pm sharp.

Olympic Park gates open at 5:00pm and Patrons are reminded that Olympic Park provides a full catering service and that there must be No BYO by law.

Dates/Info are correct at time of publishing, but patrons are reminded that they are subject to confirmation and may alter at the Club’s discretion.MMCC Competition Calendar, Nov 2011doc

The high flying motorcross bikes are back at Olympic Park this Saturday night as the first of the Arena Motorcross events takes shape for the new competition season.

The spectacular event, which starts in the daylight, at 6:00pm and goes into the night under the new lights at the Mildura venue will thrill spectators as the riders battle each othet over the jumps, berms and whoops of the circuit.

Five strong classes of competition will be held, with the juniors on the 65cc machines, leading on to the 85 cc division plus the junior 125cc, 2 stroke and 250cc, 4 stroke machines holding sway until the senior riders come out to play on their “Lites” and “Open” class machines.

Riders to watch for would be, probably the best credentialed rider on the program, Josh Spanos from the Riverland. Spanos has been a regular in the top 40 Australian motorcross riders in the country over the past few years as he has ridden the regular rounds of the very hotly contested Australian MX Championships as a core group rider. Josh has been consistent in that heafty competition, which often includes some International MX Stars, including the top guys from around Australia.

Last year, too, Josh was included in the ever present list of riders in the International SuperX events which also travelled to stadiums all around Australia. The great Australian World MX and SX champion, Chad Reed, was also on the same start line as Spanos in those events.

Lined up against Spanos will be the likes of James Bate in the “lite” division and other local Josh Murtagh in the “open” class. These boys are gaining much experience at the new look layout of the Olympic Park circuit so will be right on the tail of Spanos, which will provide a good race spectacle during the evening.

This meeting will be a prelude to a three round series of Arena Motorcross which will be held in January, February and culminate with the regular Easter Saturday meeting under lights in April.

Gates will open to the public at 4:30pm, with Practice set to take place between 4:45 and 5:30pm. Racing will commence at 6:00pm using the daylight and then will go on into the night as is standard procedure.

A full catering service will be available and patrons are reminded that there must be No BYO by law.

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A fine field of Solo stars will be on the card at Mildura’s Olympic Park this Saturday night when the Mildura Speedway season opens in earnest.

A great field of Sidecars too, will explode onto the track; to start off hostilities in the right vein in a meeting which will have great interest for Sunraysia speedway fans. Both solos and sidecars will be very competitive and the format to be used on the night will showcase that competitiveness.

A “new look” race track, with resplendent, freshly painted new fence panels, will greet all competitors, in what will be a fascinating start to the Mildura season. Improvements are always on the Olympic Park agenda, with the fence being part of the constant refurbishment. Further plans are afoot to continually upgrade the facilities, as the Club progresses a master plan for change.

The turn out on Saturday will include twelve top sidecars, which include the top line up from Mildura with Byren Gates, Jason Bradshaw and Wazza Monson heading the bill. The top three will be combined with Chris Holmes, Clint Mayes, Dale Milner and Simon Cohrs, along for good measure. Visitors will include Broken Hill Star, Ricky Stephens and from Albury, Lindsay McGregor, as well as Adelaide’s Tim Bichard and Aaron Silvy also with former local Rob Patterson, who is back in Mildura for a spell.

The three wheeled brigade will line up in a round robin test, where each team will be trying to gain as many points as possible to get them through to an all important semi final and a cut throat Final on the night. Track space will be at a premium, especially at turn one of lap one, where all riders seem to want to have their front wheel on such a tiny piece of territory.

Passengers have been swapped temporarily, in some cases; most notable being Mick Powell, who is replacing Byren Gates’ regular swinger, Mick O’Loughlin and Dale Knights who will swing with Tim Bichard.

Amongst those more settled combinations are Jason Bradshaw / Steve Behsmann, Chris Holmes / Neale Hancock, Warren Monson / Deven Gates, Dale Milner / Jamie Knudsen, Clint Mayes / Andrew Summerhayes as well as the Cohrs brothers, Simon and Mark, who will flash out the new kevlars this week. A sharp and most colourful design will attract even more attention to the usually humble team leader, Simon, who, since his success with Adelaide’s Chris Pascoe at last years Australian Championships at Gillman, has realised that he is a serious contender whether steering his machine locally or swinging with Pascoe as part of the Sidecar Grand Slam circus as it travels around Australia. The Sidecar Grand Slam will come to Mildura on Saturday 14^th January 2012, right at the peak of Mildura’s season.

Solo action will be among a most even field where we will see the Sedgmen brothers, Ryan and Justin, Brenton Barnfield, Brock Gates and Chris Ferguson riding hard against each other. Justin Sedgmen returned home from England about four weeks ago and has settled into his local regular work, however he will be looking to sharpen his skills after the “freshen up” time he has had, as he will want to do well in the 2012 Australian Championships series, which will be held during the second half of January.

It is pleasing to see such a competitive field of solos in action so early in the season, with some more locals expected to front the tapes at the Victorian Solo Title, which will be held in Mildura on the 3^rd December.

It is understood that those locals yet to return, will ride in the Victorian Title meeting, which Sunraysia patrons will look forward to with some delight.

The biggest and hottest news for Sunraysia speedway patrons however, is that the next meeting which will be held at Olympic Park will be a fully fledged International Sidecar Challenge meeting, which will take the form of a “Four team tournament”.

Four teams of Sidecars, each with four machines apiece, will contest the Mildura Sidecar Four Team Challenge on WEDNESDAY 16^th November. The meeting is being staged at Olympic Park on a Wednesday, just four days after the 2012 World Sidecar Speedway Championship is held at Murray Bridge on Saturday 12^th November.

The Wednesday meeting allows the International guys to travel and get a second meeting in the week. Club President, Gavin Sedgmen said, ”We know that Mildura fans will turn out, even for a mid week event, as locals understand that the Club is always looking to be innovative and opportune with its promotions. Sunraysia speedway folk know that the Club will always try to put on a show at the best available time”.  Sedgmen added, “This is the only available time for an International Sidecar meeting – and patrons will be excited to see how the Mildura boys go against such talented competition from overseas”.

The four teams to contest the Challenge will be representing England and New Zealand, with a team representing Australia all racing against a team all from Mildura.

An International permit has been granted for the meeting, which delights the Mildura Club as the meeting will fulfill the dreams of many of the International Sidecar stars who have always wanted to ride on the tight and tricky Olympic Park circuit.

All four teams who will ride for NZ and England will be engaged in the Murray Bridge meeting. Our Club has been gratefully assisted by both Mick Headland and Mark Mitchell, who are great supporters of Olympic Park and have been working with Mildura Club officials behind the scenes to make the meeting come to fruition.

The four team tournament format will give Sunraysia fans a great look at all the International stars as well as the guys who will represent both Australia and Mildura. It will be a great feather in the cap of Mildura when local fans will be able to measure the strength of Mildura’s home based riders against the very best in the World.

This week, however, Mildura’s gates will open at 5:00pm, with a full catering service being available to patrons. BYO is not permitted by law. Some grandstand seating is available.

A Junior program will precede the senior meeting.

New timetable for all meetings this season will be

Sign on                                    4:30 to 5:30

PUBLIC gates open                5:00

Riders Briefing                        5:30 to 5:45  (now held before Practice)

Senior Practice                       5:45 to 6:15  (riders must be ready)

Junior meeting                        6:30 to 7:15

Senior Riders parade              7:20 to 7:25

Senior Racing                         7:30 onwards

All members please note there will be a working bee on this Sunday October 2 at 9am. We need all to attend to get things ready for the season.

Entries are now open for the first two rounds of the King of the Murray Arena Cross series on October 8 and November 26, Supp Regs can be downloaded below.

Arena Cross Supp Regs 2011-2012 RD1-2

Competition and Social dates for the 2011/2012 year, can be downloaded.  Dates/Info are correct at time of publishing, but patrons are reminded that they are subject to confirmation and may alter at the Club’s discretion.

2011/2012 Competition Calendar

Junior winter series speedway

Set up and sign on 1pm

Racing 2pm – 4pm seniors and juniors will alternate during the day, Juniors will have a meeting and the seniors will have practice.

4.15 pack up followed by refreshments.

Nomination to Roly on email rolandpaver@bigpond.com ph 0408 502397 nominations to Roly by the Wednesday before the meeting. You must nominate so that a program can be finalized.

Winter speedway practice

Sunday afternoon 1pm to 3pm  contact Sedgy on sedgy7@bigpond.com or 0448 252015 let him know if you are coming down to practice

Set up and sign on 12.30

Practice from 1pm to 3pm (Note times have changed)

Pack up

All people wishing to participate are required to assist with set up and pack up.

Costs

Winter series – meetings $20 per entrant seniors and Juniors

Sunday practice -  $10 per junior entrant and $10 for seniors

Dates

April 30 Saturday – Winter series 2pm to 4pm

May 7 & 8 – Junior club Camp and Trail ride

May 22 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

June 11 Saturday – Winter series  Classic meeting and Juniors special times 12noon sign on,  1pm  Racing

June 19 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

July 9 Saturday – Winter series 2pm to 4pm Jason Crump Shield

July 17 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

Aug 6 Saturday – Winter series 2pm to 4pm

Aug 21 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

Sept 10 Saturday – Winter series 2pm to 4pm Leigh Adams Cup

Sept 18 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

Oct 1 Saturday – Winter series 2pm to 4pm

Oct 16 Sunday – Practice 10am to 12.30pm

Junior club meetings are on the 1^st Wednesday of the month starting at 7.00pm and go for about 1 hour.

These meetings are to organise what’s on and keep everyone informed what’s happening and to enjoy some fellowship.

All parents are invited to participate in all activities so that it is enjoyable for all, not just the kids!!!

Download the calendar: winter Dates