PROCTOR WINS THIRD VICTORIAN TITLE

vic title poduim

Speedway journeyman, Ty Proctor, from Longwarry in Victoria, won the 2016 Victorian Solo Speedway Championship in great style at Mildura’s Olympic Park Speedway on Saturday night.

Proctor showed great delight in crossing for his third Title after drama had befallen the top points scorer, Justin Sedgmen, who, after not being beaten in the five rounds of heats, was left languishing at the line when the tapes flew as his chain snapped, leaving him sitting while the other three finalists took off into turn one.

Once Sedgmen was left behind, Proctor took control and, with great focus made sure that he accounted for both Brodie Waters and Jordan Stewart, who, like Proctor, had all finished the night’s heats with twelve points each.

The crowd was most receptive to the win from Proctor, as he has had bad injuries and some rotten bad luck over the last few years which have kept him out of some major meetings. Since Proctor won his first title, he has now won three Titles on the trot, in those years when he has been able to ride, so his strike rate has been excellent.

On the podium, Proctor was most gracious in addressing Sedgmen by saying that he felt for Sedgmen’s misfortune, as he had been the top rider all night, dispatching all other riders in the heats.

The final round of heats was important for all riders as the top eight riders in the field all needed good heat results to consolidate their chances to make the Victorian final.

Proctor was on nine points going into the final round, so his win over Jordan Stewart drew him level with Stewart on twelve points. A poor third place behind Sedgmen and Fallon in round thirteen had seen Proctor below expectations, but his fifth heat brought him back into contention.

A must win situation existed for Brodie Waters into the final round, as he too, had only gathered nine points from hid first four rides, but he easily took account of Jaimon Lidsey to finish the heats also on twelve points. A temporary exclusion by the Referee, could have seen Waters miss out completely, however the Waters exclusion in heat seven was short lived as Ferguson was then excluded for causing the race stoppage.

Jordan Stewart had his best result ever with a very consistent performance by taking two heat wins, one of them over Jack Fallon, but more importantly, making sure that those heats which he could not win he finished a very good second, which gave him a top four finish overall.

Sedgmen won all his heats with great authority and was unbeaten to finish on a fifteen point maximum. A count-back was required to decide gate selection order with Waters getting second pick behind Sedgmen, due to him finishing ahead of Proctor when they met in heat ten. Proctor was third selection due to having three heat wins against Stewart’s two heat wins.

The sensation of the night was that joint meeting favourite, Max Fricke was not in the top four, as he finished in fifth place after losing out completely in heat nine, when he was excluded by the Referee for an infield excursion during the third lap as he passed underneath Proctor, but had both wheels inside the white line. The Referee showed the Red helmet light during the third lap, indicating that Fricke was immediately excluded for the infringement.

Fricke dropped his other point to Sedgmen in heat nineteen, leaving him to finish the night on just eleven points. This was the most crucial heat of the night, when, as from the start, Sedgmen was first into turn one from his gate two start, riding a slightly higher line which took Fricke high also, with Fallon, who had had some good rides during the night, being able to settle into second place by riding the inside line, which was wide open. On settling down along the back straight, Fallon was able to keep Fricke at bay, which allowed Sedgmen to take control of the event. Fallon was challenged hard and eventually Fricke showed his recent British Elite League experience by going past Fallon, but the Mansfield rider could never catch Sedgmen, who rode the four fastest times of the night.

Jack Fallon completed a good night’s work by finishing with Fricke on eleven points, but Fricke had more wins than the Merbein youngster, so Fallon had to settle for sixth place overall.

A mechanical problem in his first ride cost Cooper Riordan dearly although he finished a creditable seventh place on nine points, just ahead of Jaimon Lidsey, who completed the night in eighth place on eight points. The Mildura youngsters had all ridden well and finished in the top half of the field.

Good riding from SA lad, Dakota Ballantyne, with seven points and a ninth place finish, saw him ahead of veteran, Jason Stewart (6), Brock Gates (5), Jack Morrison (4), Chris Ferguson (3), Bill Tillett (2) on count-back from Luke Bacskai (2) and Brad Tillett (1).

The Mildura Master, Phil Crump, was in attendance to present the Mildura Showcase Jewellers, Victorian Trophies to the top four riders, all of whom were delighted to receive their silverware from such a great Victorian.

The humility, camaraderie and respect amongst the riders was evident, as Ty Proctor paid tribute to Mildura Club for always giving him a go and particularly to the late Rodney Lyons, who Proctor said was one of the only guys to ever offer him help and advice, which Lyons did on a constant basis. Proctor was gracious too in offering his thoughts to Justin Sedgmen, who had suffered the tragedy of mechanical failure when at the top of the tree and offered his special congratulations too, to Brodie Waters and Jordan Stewart on now being able to get that all important signature on a work visa into England due to their top four placing in the State Championship.

Proctor himself was a victim of the English Work visa situation last year when injury had prevented him from achieving the mandatory point’s average at a certain time, which resulted in Proctor having to leave his Sheffield team and return to Australia, not being allowed to ride. Proctor was always intent on achieving the work visa status by a top four finish in this year’s Championship and the Title was the “icing on the cake”.

An elated Brodie Waters accepted his second place trophy by suggesting that a career in speedway in England may now be ahead of him. Jordy Stewart was over the moon with his result, knowing that his dream of riding in England may well be a chance.

Justin Sedgmen warmly congratulated all three who finished ahead of him and particularly offered advice to both Waters and Stewart, suggesting that the opportunity to ride in England was now open and that they needed to grasp that opportunity with both hands.

Sedgmen added that he was pleased for Proctor in finishing with the Title and now again has the opportunity to go back to England to resume, what has been, a great speedway career.

Support events for the night was a demonstration of 250cc machines, ridden by Oliver Hamilton and Jack Sylvia,

A field of local Sidecars also entertained the modest crowd with AJ Pearce / Brodie Gebhart leading the way from Nathan Cock / Kayne McMahon, Chris Dess / Brenton Kerr and Chris Wakefield / Jason Pinnock.

Next meeting at Olympic Park will; be held on Sunday, 27th December when the Club will host the Mildura Sidecar Masters event.

The 2016 Victorian Junior Speedway Title, which was to be held on Sunday, has been postponed until Sunday 13th December due to the present spell of hot weather. The Mildura Club invokes a strict heat policy in regard to junior racing, which is the reason for the postponement. Competitors are invited to contact Club officials for further details prior to next week’s event, which will be held at the same times as the original schedule.

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