Despite some rumours to the contrary on several internet chat lines and some uninformed local advertising, there will be no speedway at Olympic Park this weekend, 19^th February.

The NSW Sidecar Titles had to be fitted in before the running of the Australian Sidecar Championship late in March, so Mildura Club moved our February 19 date, now to be held on Saturday 2^nd April, with the NSW Title being held in Broken Hill this Saturday night.

This Broken Hill meeting will be well worth visiting, as it is chock full of NSW stars, who will enjoy the wide expanses of racing at the 400 metre Silver City circuit.

Rain water in our gully at Olympic Park, from the recent heavy storms of 2 weeks ago, has also influenced our decision. The rising river has also increased the level of the “water table” under the track and Club surrounds.

Patrons are reminded of the remaining SIDECAR events which will be the Clubs focus until seasons end.

Saturday 5^th March – “RIORDAN’S PAINT n PANEL”– SIDECAR SHOOTOUT

Saturday 12^th March – “NORTH WEST FUNERALS”  — SIDECAR SPECTACULAR

Saturday 2^nd April  — “ATLAS SHEDS” — MILDURA SIDECAR MASTERS

The Club is delighted to have such valuable sponsors on board to assist with the running of these meeting, which are each side of the 2011 Australian Sidecar Championships, which will be held at GILLMAN Speedway, with Qualifying on 25^th March and the Individual Title on 26^th March. A planned Under 16 Sidecar Title is planned for Sunday 27^th March at Sidewinders.

Solid sponsorship, like the Club has with the “Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club” for our National Title event is vital and ensures the proper conduct of our meetings.

Entries for all these abovementioned Sidecar events are going through the roof, with riders from all over Australian wanting to participate both before the Titles, to get race fit and then after the Title, with some riders catching an extra meeting on their way home after the Titles.

Written by Brendon Gledhill

Download the Press Release: POSTPONE Shootout PRESS RELEASE 160211

In what could have only been described as the most difficult meeting ever staged at Mildura’s Olympic Park, dual World Under 21 Champion, Darcy Ward, from Queensland won the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club, Australian Solo Title final round and Defending Champion, Chris Holder, held on the take his third consecutive National crown in a meeting whai was a poor one for him.

The meeting was marred by track consistency issues which were a result of “over watering” of the track surface during the many hours prior to the meeting, with Club officials being influenced by the hot conditions than may have been necessary.

The track was in need of some drying out in one corner, as too much water was under the track, which caused an unacceptable delay in the start time for the event.

Club officials were embarrassed with both the delay and the cause for the delay, which left patrons wondering what was happening, as clearly, the track was being constantly groomed to try to rid the soil profile of dampness. Referee, Dave Mills, from Sydney maintained a composure which demonstrated his long experience in the sport. Mills, at all times kept a mind on the requirements of the riders and the need for the meeting to progress.

Once the meeting started, it was obvious that conditions still were not suitable for good and safe racing, with some riders coming down in the offending turn, turn one. Further track work was ordered.

Finally the meeting got under way, with officials being most mindful of rider safety and thankfully, whilst some riders did hit the deck, they did so without major issues or injuries.

The eventual Title winner, Chris Holder, had a night of very mixed fortunes, as he was only able to manage a seven point score line for eleventh place overall.

Form rider on the night was Darcy Ward, who was only beaten by local star, Justin Sedgmen during the heats, but that was in the last heat of the night, when Ward’s place as first rider into the “A” final was assured.

Second top points for the Coomealla event, was Rory Schlein, who finished two points in arrears of Ward, but two points ahead of each of Kozza Smith, Ty Proctor and Cameron Woodward. It was Woodward who took the third place available in the main final on countback, with the other two tied riders needing to ride the “B” final, where only the winner would progress to the night’s main event.

Justin Sedgmen and Englishman, Kyle Newman were the last two into the secondary final and turned out to be the two to watch. Sedgmen got away well to take an early lead, which he consolidated, only to be attacked by the young English rider in the last lap. Newman moved Sedgmen wide in the final bend and made a better sprint to the line, to leave Sedgmen fifth place for the night.

The main event, was finally started, well after midnight, saw Ward get away from both Woodward and Schlein, who just headed Newman, until a coming together in lap three resulted in Newman tumbling down the track from about the start line down towards turn one. It seemed as though he may not have been left much room by the SA rider, Schlein, but the race was stopped and Newman was excluded from the re-run.

Ward again got away easily and went on to win comfortably from Woodward and Schlein.

The good result for Ward, also had further ramifications, in that Ward’s first place on the night, combined with the experienced, Davey Watt’s poor return for the night, left both Queenslanders on even points after the four Championship rounds. A run-off was required to decide overall second place for the Championship, even though the meeting was running well after the normal Mildura finish time.

Ward continued his good form of the night, by dispatching Watt into third place.

Watt was the rider most affected by his low points return, as he, like Holder, only finished with seven points for the Mildura meeting.

A good points return, combined with the low points of Holder, could have seen Watt take his first ever Australian Title as he could have swallowed up the points buffer which Holder took into the meeting. Watt later lamented his lost opportunity, but congratulated his Grand Prix colleague Holder, on his win, saying that he was not able to put pressure on the small points buffer which Holder took into the meeting.

Sadly for Watt, it wasn’t to be and he had to settle for third place behind each of his Poole team mates, Chris Holder, who now has three consecutive Titles, with Ward in second, Watt third and Schlein in fourth.

The three Mildura riders, Cameron Woodward, Cory Gathercole and Justin Sedgmen finished in fifth, sixth and seventh places respectively in the overall Championship.

Mildura Club apologises to our many valued patrons and sponsors and assures speedway fans,  that lessons are learned and the a repeat of the failure of the Club to provide good conditions does not continue.

Written by Brendan Gledhill

Download the Press Release: PRESS RELEASE – POST Aust Title 310111

SATURDAY 29^TH JANUARY 2011

With just five days to go before the 2011 Australian Solo Speedway Titles come to a head at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway, the Club advises that there are no issues with FLOODING to the grounds of the Olympic Park circuit. There is NO RISK to the meeting going on !

The level of the Murray River adjacent to the famous track is still within its banks and the Club is monitoring the situation well ahead of the expected “high river peak” at Mildura in some weeks time. The Club does not expect any issues at that time, given the Club’s long history at the Olympic Park site and our understanding of the river.

Heavy rains this season have caused the Mildura Club to postpone some meetings already, due to water lying in the Club grounds, but quick action with pumps can alleviate that situation very quickly. Car parking for patrons is always of concern when we get heavy rains, but flood activity will not stop the final round of the Title series from being held.

A contingency plan has been worked through by Club officials so rest assured “there will be a cracker meeting” for the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club – 2011 Australian Solo Championship on SATURDAY 29^th January.

COOMEALLA MEMORIAL SPORTING CLUB – 2011 AUSTRALIAN SOLO TITLE

Gates open: 3:00pm

Sign on and Scrutineering: 3:30pm – 5:00pm

Practice: 5:30pm – 6:30pm

Riders briefing: 6:45pm

Rider Introduction and Parade: 7:15pm

Racing starts: 7:30pm

Tickets

Adult $25

Children (12years to Under 16 years) $15

Family $65

Children under 12 years FREE

Program $5

There is no need to pre purchase tickets

Excellent Grandstand accommodation is available on a “first come – first served” basis.

We ask that no chairs be placed on grandstands please.

For more information contact:

Brendon Gledhill

Ph: 03 5027 4225

Mob: 0419 174 225

Email: gledhill@hotkey.net.au

Download the Press Release: Website Press – Pre CMSC 2011 Aust Solo Title _Flood info_

Mildura speedway fans who had their enthusiasm for the sport re-kindled by an amazing Leigh Adams Testimonial; meeting last Wednesday, will be disappointed to learn that the current spate of wet weather has taken toll of the surrounds at Mildura’s Olympic Park forcing Mildura Motor Cycle Club to cancel the meeting scheduled for this Saturday night, 15^th January.

Club Secretary, Brendon Gledhill, in announcing the cancellation, said that “the Club regretted having to cancel a meeting which would have kept the impetus of great speedway leading up the Final round of the 2011 Australian Championships, which will be held here on Saturday 29^th January”. It is a great pity, as the meeting concentrated on some excellent Sidecar nominations and fans would come back in droves just to see the Sidecars, some of whom rode at the Testimonial meeting”, Gledhill said.

“The Club has a very busy month, as does Australian speedway in general. The Club would not  re-schedule the meeting to compete with the second round of the Australian Title, which will be held in Adelaide next Saturday night, 22^nd January. We then have Round three up in Broken Hill on Australia Day, 26^th January, with the final round back in Mildura on the 29^th January,” Gledhill added.

The most likely scenario was that the meeting would be added into the Club calendar, perhaps sometime in March, although there are some significant Sidecar focused events during that month as well.

Sunraysia speedway fans will need to keep in touch with Club announcements for the new schedule for this meeting.

Gledhill said “that the Club believed that an early cancellation was in order, given the rain up until Thursday morning and the predictions of further rains to come”. The Club surrounds would be much better left undisturbed as the Club is mindful that more rain is predicted.

Download the Press Release Written by Brendon Gledhill: Cancel – 15th January meeting

A second attempt will be made to get the two young visiting Swedish riders onto Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway this coming Sunday night, the 12^th December, when Mildura Motor Cycle Club re-runs the meeting which was postponed, due to poor conditions two weeks ago.

Club officials are hoping that the recent rains of last fortnight and again this week, will abate and allow the second meeting scheduled for the Mildura season to be conducted.

The Swedish pair, Pontus Apsgren and Ricky Kling, were due to have their next ride in Queensland, but have been able to stay in Mildura, as the guests of the Sedgmen family, to fulfill their duties in the “A” grade solo division, which will include both Sedgmen brothers, Ryan and Justin, as well as the “in-form” Brenton Barnfield and fellow local Tom Hedley. The four Mildura boys can hold their own in any company, so Mildura patrons will be keen to see how they all go against some additional first class opposition. This grade of racing will be exciting as the visitors, who are accomplished riders, come to terms with the tight corners of Olympic Park against the home ground advantage of the three Mildura Club members. Patrons again are expecting big things in the future from the newest contingent of local riders, so the pace will be furious right from the start of proceedings.

As usual the Mildura Sidecar competition will be savage, especially as last week’s filed will now be bolstered by the addition of the very fast Warren Monson / Deven Gates combination. Monson was on Australian Superbike duty last week with the conduct of a significant Six hour Endurance at Phillip Island, which had all three Waters brothers, Josh, Brodie and Nick, working hard on the bitumen.

Byrne Gates / Mick O’Loughlin have fixed their overheating problems of the Opening meet and Jason Bradshaw, with new passenger, Steve Behsmann will be looking to not dropping their guard against Bradshaw’s former passenger, in Simon Cohrs, who now rides with his brother Mark in the chair. The Cohrs combination scored a significant second placing in their first meeting ahead of the former Victorian Champion and celebrated long and hard in front of an amused and rejoicing crowd on the back straight of Olympic Park. Cohrs has always been a jovial individual and does know how to celebrate, but maybe the gloves could be off in the future as all of the Mildura riders fine tune their machines and their performance in readiness for the major Title meetings which will be on all participants earlier than they think.

The “Dad’s Army” team of Chris Holmes and Neale Hancock are riding into fine form, as are the “never give in” team of Andrew O’Rourke and Jason Mayes. The “Rooky” has taken some good scalps in the last two seasons and is looking for bigger things in 2011.

Clint Mayes, with new passenger, Andrew Summerhayes, have a great start for a new combination at the season Opener, coming home in third place overall. Mayes always has fast machinery and the new team already looks to have matters sorted trackside.  Dale Milner / Nick O’Brien are also a consistent pair, although they will have worked hard, with Bryan Gathercole to right any possible wrongs possibly caused to their machinery by their “off highway” sojourn last Saturday night. After the Renmark meeting they hit an unexpected wall of water over the Sturt Highway just west of Merbein South. Gathercole’s vehicle came to a very abrupt stop in the floodwaters, but not before having the trailer “jack-knifing” and facing both vehicle and trailer back the way from whence they came; the bikes obviously having a wild ride.

Wheat farmers, Scott and Kane Munro, will not be engaged in harvesting their now ruining crop so will be keen to just get trackside and have some fun. The Munro boys are solid performers, who always take good points off sometimes more fancied teams due to just being consistent on the track.

Corey Gates and Adon Pearce had to wait two extra weeks for their Olympic Park debut, but the breeding is such that Corey will not be troubled either by the wait, nor the competition company that the team will be riding against.

The Quads section has been most entertaining over the last two seasons, but now Olympic Park fans are being treated to some fine performances as the riders are fine tuning suspension and engines to the anti clockwise way of going on the track. Three generations of the Mills family are engaged in the four wheeled division and will mix it hard amongst the eight quads in the field. The Quads guys will ride Handicap events all night, with the feature race being a “Black flag” race to end their night. The format of the black flag race is that after a few laps, the rider at rear of field then is excluded with the black flag, until there is only one rider remaining, who is the winner.

Olympic Park gates will open at 5:00pm, with a Junior meeting to start at 6:15pm, following senior practice. The senior meeting will commence at 7:30 pm sharp.

The Club advises that there is a full catering service provided and that there must be No BYO by law.

Written by Brendon Gledhill

Download the press release: SECOND TRY FOR SWEDES

Two young Swedish riders will race at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway this coming Sunday night, testing themselves against Mildura’s top local “A” grade solo riders.

The young Swedes are, Pontus Aspgren, from the well known speedway city of Avesta and Ricky Kling, from Virserum.  Kling is currently a team mate of Cam Woodward at the Eastbourne “Eagles”, having ridden British Elite League for the last three seasons, firstly with Oxford, then Lakeside, before moving south to Eastbourne. He has also been a past member of the successful Swedish Junior Speedway team, taking a podium place in the World Under 21 Teams Championships back in 2008. Kling has established himself as a good rider in the top flight in British League as well as riding in both the Swedish and Polish Leagues over the last three years.

Aspgren, the younger of the two boys at age nineteen, is already a well travelled rider, having ridden in Swedish league for Marsarna and in Poland for Lublin during last season. Aspgren was fourth in the World 80cc Speedway Title in 2007, held that year in Poland. He will move to the strong Vastervik Club in Swedish League for this year.

Riding in the top grade this week against these Internationals will be locals, Brenton Barnfield, Tom Hedley and the Sedgmen brothers, Ryan and Justin. Justin Sedgmen shared the top points from last week’s first Olympic Park meeting and will be looking for similar form this week, while Ryan will be trying to gather points for himself as will Barnfield, who showed great class at the season opener last week. Barnfield was late to start last season due to a football injury, but has picked up plenty of good reaction skills and last week was probably the most improved rider on the track holding some good race lines in his events. Tom Hedley was just a whisker behind the top two last week and will be keen to atone for his risky manoeuvre from the final solo event.

The six “A” grade riders will fight out over heats and finish with a final to decide the winner on the night.

“B” grade solos will again be involved, with two riders from last week; grade winner, Chris Ferguson and Brock Gates, up against a couple of visiting riders in Ben Turner, who visited from Adelaide last week and John Doolan, who has not raced at Mildura before.

Again the Sidecars at Mildura go from strength to strength, with another strong field in action and also another new Sidecar team being added to the extensive list of Mildura based competitors.

Corey Gates, with passenger Adon Pearce, becomes another member of the famous Gates speedway dynasty to grace the Olympic Park track. Corey, the son of Les and Ann, has three wheeled blood coursing through his veins. Gates and Pearce have has some success riding Dirt Track sidecars, where the direction is anti-clockwise and the sidecar is on the left hand side, but have now turned to the regular speedway or the clockwise way of going, with the chair on the right hand side. Versatility will come easy to Corey, who has ridden for many years, but will break out on Olympic Park for the first time in serious competition.

A meeting under the belt to the new combinations, Clint Mayes, with Andrew Summerhayes, who finished a creditable third overall last week and Jason Bradshaw, now with Steve Behsmann, will see them better for their first outings together. Ouyen brothers, Scott and Kane Munro, along with locals, Dale Milner with Nick O’Brien, who were missing last week, will add to the mix of competition. The Holmes / Hancock combination are always up for a contest, as are Andrew O’Rourke / Jason Mayes, with Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin looking to solve their overheating problems of last week and score good points.

Olympic Park patrons were buoyed by the first up performance of the Cohrs brothers, Simon, on the throttle and Mark in the chair. The experience of Simon, who previously passengered for former State Champion, Jason Bradshaw, showed through, as he worked his way steadily into a good position in most events, even taking a second place over his former rider. Humour has always been a large part of the Cohrs repertoire and the large crowd at last weeks meeting enjoyed the jest shown by Cohrs to Bradshaw when the latter was well beaten into third place by the newcomers. Such a spirit of camaraderie is enjoyed amongst the fraternity.

Once again the Sidecar division is so even amongst the competitors that the programmer has chosen to run all the Sidecars together in a series of heats and a final to decide the overall winner.

Support too, has been heavy from the Quad division, which just grows exponentially, with more machines being added to the field since last week. This meeting will see a full field of eight machines contesting over a series of handicap events, which will add to patron’s enjoyment.

Again the three generations of the Mills family will have some serious say in who does what to whom, but be prepared for plenty of action, as back markers look to move through the field over their five lap journeys from their particular handicap positions.

A special feature of the program for Quads will be a “black flag” race to conclude the night, where after a set period of laps, the rider who is in last place will be eliminated lap by lap until only one rider remains. Tactics will play an important part in this event and will create much interest for fans and riders alike. The benefit of having larger entry numbers means that different types of racing can be included on the program, such as the “black flag” concept.

Classic Sidecars will again be a good feature of the program, with the many machines from the Bryan Gathercole stable being readied for action. A family commitment took the Milner boys away from Olympic Park action last week, but they will be back with a vengeance for this week’s competition.

Gates will open at the regular 5:30pm and patrons can expect action on the track from 6:00pm for Practice, followed by a Junior meeting, with Senior racing set to start from 7:30 sharp. Olympic Park has a full catering service and patrons are advised that there must be No BYO by law.

Next speedway meeting at Olympic Park will be the Leigh Adams Testimonial, to be held on WEDNESDAY 5^th January 2011 where we will see top International and the best of the Australian riders all paying tribute to the great career of Leigh Adams. Joining them will beone of the “best ever”, the great Tony Rickardsson, 6 times World Speedway Champion, who will be in Mildura to pay tribute to Leigh.

Written by Brendan Gledhill

Download the Press Release: PRE – Meeting #2 281110

Bike speedway will kick off with a great ”first up” program at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway this Saturday night, where the action will be hot for Solos, Sidecars, Quads and Classic Sidecars.

Excellent entries have been received for the program, which will see the Senior meeting get under way with racing scheduled to start at 7:30 pm.

A strong field of Sidecars will face the “tapes” with some regular stalwarts, including the successful Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin combination, the “revamped and redesigned Dad’s Army” team of Chris Holmes and Neale Hancock, Wazza Monsoon / Deven Gates, former Australian Sidecar Champs, Mark Mitchell / Tom Golding and Andrew O’Rourke / Jason Mayes completing the “old guard”.

New combinations this season will be former Victorian Champ, Jason Bradshaw, now with Steve Behsmann along side and Clint Mayes now with Andrew Summerhayes swinging. The Bradshaw team has altered, as former passenger, Simon Cohrs, now has a machine of his own and will handle the throttle on that bike, while his brother Mark, will do the passenger duties. Team Cohrs will be worth watching right from the outset, as the skills learned by Simon while swinging for Fudz, will be transferred straight to his expertise on the throttle on his own machine. Historically, many of the best ever riders of Sidecars have done an “apprenticeship” as passengers before taking over the riding duties, with the great John Gates being one who comes to mind along with Bradshaw himself. Mildura Club is excited about new entrants to the Sidecar division which can only boost the sport at Olympic Park.

Joining the list is regular Melbourne riders Mark Radford and Steven Stagg, along with Broken Hill’s Rick Stephens and Dean Hobbs, who will make the sidecar action great to watch.

Solo action will be in two grades, with the top group consisting of returning star, Justin Sedgmen, with brother Ryan, Tom Hedley, Ben Turner from Adelaide and Brenton Barnfield, who will go well in the “A” grade section.

The younger Sedgmen has come back from the UK after a most successful season with his Premier League team, Birmingham, where he scored well and improved his average over the year. Justin also filled in at Elite League, Swindon on a number of occasions, where he rode well and is highly regarded. Sunraysia folk will be keen to see which areas Justin has improved in his set of skills as he will no doubt be focused on a spot in the 2011 Australian Solo Titles later in the season.

“B” grade solos with an even group of lads which includes, Brock Gates, Adam Briggs, and youngsters, Luke Mitchell, Robert Medson and Kane Turner all trying their luck at Olympic Park. Most of these youngsters are having their first crack at senior racing, although they have already done many laps of practice or on their smaller 350cc machines as Juniors.

Quad action will be fast and furious as all competitors are learning the craft of machine “set up” for the tight Olympic Park turns. It has been interesting to watch the development of the Quad

racer’s machines as they guys learn more about the vagaries of setting up their machines to turn left. Two generations of the Mills family will contest the night, with the middle generation out of action temporarily.

Classic Sidecars will also be featured with Roly Paver / Rex Byrne being taken on by the next generation of Tim Byrne and Rod Gebhart and Neil Murtagh / Nick O’Brien getting a sponsored ride from Bryan Gathercole on his Classic Honda.

Gates will open as usual at 5:30 pm, with Senior Practice scheduled from 6:00pm. A Junior program will follow and the Senior meeting will get under way at 7:30 pm sharp.

Full catering is available at Olympic Park and the Club advises that there must be No BYO by law at the venue due to licensing requirements.

Written by Brendan Gledhill.

Download the Press Release: PRE – Opening Meeting 201110 (SScQ and Classic)

Mildura Motor Cycle Club has many long traditions which have evolved over its sixty three years of operation, but there is another milestone being achieved next weekend, when Club members embark on the 25^th Anniversary Trail Ride to Rainbow.

About forty participants are expected to tackle the social journey, with most riders taking to dirt bikes, to ride through the desert country south of Mildura, some choosing to ride road bikes using the bitumen and some vehicular support teams who will carry the goods and chattels, like changes of clothing and sundry spares for the machines, to Rainbow.

Trail riding has been a massive part of the Mildura Club over many years, with a specialized group doing a traverse of the Simpson Desert back in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of Australian settlement and many of the riders who took that journey will line up again for the Rainbow ride, as most of them have done for many years.

There is not one rider who has participated in all twenty five rides, as family commitments and work requirements have had an impact, but there are some who have made the trip more than twenty times over the years.

The ride to Rainbow takes the dirt group through the red sand of the “Sunset Country” and onwards through the “Big Desert” and skirting the “Wyperfield National Park” and “Lake Albacutya”, coming into the wheat town of Rainbow from the east.

The road groups enjoy their trip south through Ouyen and Patchewollock, to Hopetoun and on to Rainbow arriving from the north.

A wonderful social occasion is held at the Rainbow pub on the Saturday night, with members booking the venue totally overnight, making ready for the return journey back to Mildura, usually by a slightly different route on the Sunday.

Energy for the continuation of the ride comes from a core group of Life members of the Club, with Peter Oliver, Craig Baker, Gary Watt, Sy Nunan, Mal Seymour and Jock Macleod providing much of the organizational effort required to harness the group.

The ride will take place over the first weekend of September as it always does.

Download the press release written by Brendon Gledhill: 25th Anniversary Rainbow Trail Ride 250810

A strong band of talented motorcyclists were presented with their awards at the 63rd Annual dinner of Mildura Motorcycle Club last Saturday night.

The well attended dinner was held in the Auditorium of the Coomealla Memorial Sporting Club, the major sponsor of the Motorcycle Club, in keeping with the now long established tradition of mutual co-operation between the two bodies.

Individual presenters paid tribute to the various recipients in the particular categories of achievement in the Motorcycle Club.

The competition clubman, “Rigby Trophy” was made to Club Captain, Brock Gates, who has completed an excellent season, riding and excelling in every discipline offered in the Club.

The Motorcross, “Stevenson Trophy,” was presented to Life member and Club Motorcross stalwart, Rohan Hollis, who continues his riding activity at the top level well into middle age.

In what was an impressive roundup of awards to the younger Sedgmen brother, Justin, who is now riding in England and Europe professionally, he was awarded the “Nemstas Trophy”, speedway solo aggregate, while the Byren Gates and Mick O’Loughlin Sidecar team took out the “Teague Trophy,” for the speedway Sidecar aggregate. Gates and O’Loughlin finished their season in fine form, taking a sixth place in the 2010 Australian Title meeting in Newcastle over the Easter weekend.

The Dirt Karters Trophy went to the most highly decorated driver in the country when Rob Latta took the award. Rob has two National Titles as well as many State Championships and podium positions to his name, in what has been a memorable, even if well travelled season for him and his family.

The newest Trophy in the list was the initial awarding of the Quad Racers trophy, which went to Club committeeman, Troy Mills. Mills has been most active in getting and assisting recruits to the Quad discipline, which includes, even three generations of his own family. The category continues with good growth and great entertainment. Read the rest of this entry »

Australian international speedway rider Leigh Adams has announced that January 5, 2011 will be the date of his Testimonial meeting, to be held at his home track of Olympic Park, Mildura.

Adams is currently competing in his final year of European competition and hopes to go out with a bang on January 5.

“I hope to put on one of the biggest speedway events our sport has seen for many years” said Adams from his UK base.

“It will be a special night of racing for all the fans that have supported me over the years and this will be my thank you to them as well as a celebration of the career I’ve had in the sport.”

Adams is currently in negotiations with two foreign grand prix riders and he hopes to announce their participation in coming months – should he pull this off it will be huge news for fans down under.

The meeting will feature a very strong field of senior riders, some Junior competition, as well as Australia’s top sidecar riders and a host of other cameo appearances by champions past and present.

“The Sidecar field is nearly sorted” said Adams, “and all but one of the competitors rode in the Australian Championship this year”.

The odd men out are actually the brilliant duo of Glenn and Nathan O’Brien, who jumped at the chance to take part.

“What an honour to be part of such an event” said Glenn.

“As soon as I got the phone call there was not even a pause, I just said put us in and nobody will keep us away!”

“Leigh has done more for Australian Speedway than anyone else I know and this will be my thank you to him for the enjoyment that he has given me and many others over the years”.

More information on the Leigh Adams Testimonial will be released in coming months – should be a beauty!