The speedway season will draw to a close at Olympic Park this Saturday night with the running of the 33rd Mildura Coca-Cola Sidecar Spectacular. This popular event is a must for Sidecar riders and enthusiasts alike as all of the top riders are always so keen to have their names included in the event,
The winner of the 2010 Keith “Curly” Carmes Trophy will be deserving, as the field is top class in the top group of ten. More than twenty sidecars will be on the program, but the Trophy will be decided amongst the ten “A” grade nominees.
Last week’s winners and runners up will start the meeting as firm favourites as Darrin Treloar and Justin Plaisted have five Australian Titles under their belt, but it could always be the local stars, and now Victorian seeded riders into the 2010 Australian Title at Newcastle, Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin, who, with their local knowledge could wrest the Curly Carmes Trophy away from the visitors.
Gates and O’Loughlin have been electrifying with their starts in recent meetings and are obviously grooming their style to suit the requirements of most tracks, and certainly the Newcastle venue for Easter, which will also auger well for them for this weekend too. Most local officials have not seen the Gater Racing Team make such impressive starts, as they have been during this season, which has only really heated up for sidecars over the last month, but something has been done to focus the attention of the team on their starts, which is working well. Read the rest of this entry »
A star studded line up has been engaged, with three teams who have won ten Australian Championships between them heading the impressive line up in the North West Funerals, 2010 Victorian Sidecar Championships to be held at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway this Saturday night.
Darrin Treloar / Justin Plaisted, Glenn and Nathan O’Brien and Scott Christopher / Trent Koppe are all previous wearers of the coveted blue sash as the National Champions and they will be joined by as strong a line up as has ever contested the State Championship in many years.
Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin started every heat and final last week like scalded cats, with amazing speed from the trap, but more importantly, with brilliant reaction time from Gates on the throttle and clutch. The Gater Racing Team has been improving their form as the season has progressed, as they plan on making an assault on the Australian Championship in Newcastle over the Easter weekend.
The other top chances to wave the Mildura banner are the team of Jason Bradshaw and Simon Cohrs, who are often brilliant around Olympic Park and could take some big scalps over the course of the meeting. They were very fast last week and like Gates, stood out from the crowd with some great racing. Apart from one blemish, when they turned themselves around after coming into the Pit turn too hot, they won all their heats well. Read the rest of this entry »
Some spectacular racing greeted fans at Olympic Park Speedway on Saturday night with the running of the 2010 Sidecar Shootout, which was won with great authority by local stars, Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin from Warren Monson and Deven Gates.
The double seven format proved to be most successful as more chances are given to, perhaps some of the lesser riders, but this meeting had intensity right from the start as all teams worked hard for enough points to get them to their own semi-final, which would then give them the chance of winning the Dudley Bradshaw Trophy.
Whilst Gates and O’Loughlin won all their heats and finished on a maximum score, it was the “Dad’s Army” team of Chris Holmes and Neale Hancock who finished with the second selection chance on eight points. The older gents have some very good machinery under them this season and are using it and their massive experience to be really at one with their racing. Total local domination in division one continued with Andy O’Rourke / Jason Mayes just “pipped” for third place points on count back from Clint Mayes / Jamie Knudsen, with each team on seven points. Read the rest of this entry »
After the first half of the Olympic Park season has been chock full of top Solo speedway action, with the successful conduct of two Australian Championships, this Saturday night sees the break out of the Sidecars into great three wheeled action, with the conduct of the annual Sidecar Shootout, with the winning team taking the coveted “Dudley Bradshaw Trophy.”
The line up is star studded with the current and former Australian Champions in the field. Mark Mitchell and Tom Golding have again started their season quietly, much the same as they did last season, when they planned their peak at exactly the right meeting of the year. Five times Champ, Darrin Treloar, with Justin Plaisted on board, has taken the exact opposite route to the Easter Title at Newcastle, by riding just about everything that is possible, including another Australian Long Track Title together at Tamworth just a couple of weeks ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Olympic Park’s permanent Arena Motorcross will light up to the thrills of the jumps when the annual January Arena Motorcross event will be staged this Saturday night.
Good fields have entered in each division, with some of the best riders entered in the top division, especially locals, Ryan Grayling and Jason Wood, who will not have things their own way against Josh Spanos who has just completed the International SuperX Series; the city based Supercross, which starred the great Australian World Champion Chad Reed, amongst a scintillating line up of top flight Australian and overseas riders.
Grayling has now had two full seasons at the top level of Australian motorcross and has picked up his skill level accordingly, while Wood continues to challenge some good riders at every event which he contests.
Grayling will use the Mildura meeting to sharpen his fitness as the 2010 Australian Motorcross Championships begin not too far into the New Year. He will enjoy the competition with some riders who he races regularly, especially Spanos, as the young Riverlander did particularly well in his first tryout at International status competition. Spanos is a good rider and on the short version of the jumps should be able to give the local riders some stick when it comes to maintaining higher corner speed and being more efficient on the jumps, not losing ground by taking too much air off each jump. Spanos had some good mid pack results in the touring SuperX circus, which travelled all around the Nation’s Capitals and some major eastern seaboard venues in NSW and Queensland. Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday night’s Mildura Speedway Masters saw a great all round performance from all participants, with Justin Sedgmen taking the major honours in the Solos with Jason Bradshaw and Simon Cohrs taking the chocolates in the Sidecar division. Troy Mills was the winner of the Quads Masters final from Lachy Mannes and Nathan Mills.
Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin dominated the Sidecar heats of the Masters, recording four great wins, but were always under challenge from the Bradshaw / Cohrs team and Ouyen’s Munro brothers, Scott and Kane, who have now garaged the Header and gone to the faster and more powerful option. The Munro’s riding has improved greatly and now that plenty of track time can be assured with the wheat harvest done, we are likely to see further improvement, as they are now mixing it with the top Mildura riders. Read the rest of this entry »
Olympic Park will host a fabulous Sidecars, Solos and Quads Masters meeting this Saturday night, with a great line up of talent all vying for the status of being the Mildura Master.
A return of Sidecar racing will have the crowd excited, as for the last few weeks, the Sidecars have ridden just as support events to the major Solo Championships conducted at Olympic Park.
Patrons will be pleased to see a top lineup of chairs, with some the top locals engaged in a titanic struggle for supremacy. Regular stars, Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin, Jason Bradshaw / Simon Cohrs, Clint Mayes / Jamie Knudsen and Chris Holmes / Neale Hancock plus Ouyen’s Munro brothers, Scott and Kane, Melton based, Mark Radford / Steven Stagg and Simon Hartley / Nathan Chisholm, as well as Broken Hill’s, Rick Stephens / Dean Hobbs, makes an electric eight team field to contest the “Masters†title. Read the rest of this entry »
World Under 21 Champion, Darcy Ward, from Queensland, won the SportZprint 2010Â Australian Under 21 Speedway Championship at Olympic Park last Saturday night, his second consecutive Title. Finishing second was Justin Sedgmen, who has capped off a wonderful first twelve months as a senior rider.
Ward did not win the Championship easily and was only the third qualifier to the event final.
Leading the points score after the twenty heats of the event was young NSW rider, Sam Masters, who scored fourteen points for the night, only dropping one point to eventual third place man, Josh Auty from England. Masters worked the track well, using his good starting and good corner speed to advantage. Read the rest of this entry »
The SportZprint 2010 Australian Under 21 Speedway Championship will see the cream of Australia’s young speedway talent on display at Mildura’s Olympic Park track this Saturday night.
Amongst the rider’s list will be the current World Under 21 Champion, Darcy Ward, from Queensland, who took the World crown against massive odds back in the European summer of 2009. Ward was able to blast both the top two fancied riders away, so look out at Olympic Park, as Ward should start as hot meeting favourite. Read the rest of this entry »
The cream of Australia’s young speedway riders will be in action at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway next Saturday, 16th January when the SportZprint 2010 Australian Under 21 Speedway Championship is conducted at the famous venue.
Many of the riders were engaged in the senior Solo championship meeting, the last of the three rounds was held at the Newcastle Showgrounds last weekend, where local rider, Justin Sedgmen, knocked the series leader and anticipated winner, Troy Batchelor, from his perch, by thrashing him in heat four, which put paid to his chances of the Title. A third place in that heat behind Sedgmen and fellow local, Cory Gathercole, was enough to relegate Batchelor. Read the rest of this entry »
