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Gillman (South Australia) Motorsport-Speedway
Gillman Speedway Press Release
CBS Bins & Temporary Fencing Solo Championships at Gillman Speedway this Saturday night
Three divisions of Solos will be chasing Championship honours in the CBS Bins & Temporary Fencing Solo Championships at Gillman Speedway this Saturday night, 6 December, in the last meeting at the venue before Christmas.
The feature event will be the Gillman Solo Speedway Championship in which local riders Robert Branford, Arlo Bugeja and Robert Medson will be challenged by Mildura’s Justin Sedgmen, Jack Fallon, Brodie Waters and Cooper Riordan.
The favourites will be Branford and Sedgmen, who have both been runners-up in recent years — Branford in 2013 and Sedgmen last season — and both have been in good form in the opening meetings of this season. Branford has won the Chum Taylor Foundation Cup (ahead of Waters) at Pinjar Park in Western Australia, and the Victorian Under 21 Championship at Wodonga, and Sedgmen won the Jason Lyons Trophy at Mildura and finished second to Sam Masters in the Victorian Championship at Undera last Saturday night.
The supporting Division 2 and Under 16 250cc Championships will include riders from SA, WA, Victoria and NSW and both have no clear-cut favourites which will mean an entertaining night as the riders do their best to string together enough points to reach the deciding finals. Almost every rider in both classes is capable of making their final, and with no “last chance semi-final” this week, it will be a matter of who can consistently score points throughout the heats and then hold their nerves to put in a big ride in the final.
All three championships will be run over the same format of eight heats (four rides each) plus a final for the highest four point scorers.
There will also be Sidecar support races with three groups of five riders each contesting five heats (again, four rides each), and 125cc Junior Solos on the infield track during the track watering.
The Group 1 Sidecars will see Brenten Dwyer/Daz Whetstone, Arron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig, Jason Hardy/Adam Pascoe, Daniel Puddy/Luke Puddy and Rob Patterson/Brenton Kerr (Vic) in action, but as with the Solos, all three groups look to be very evenly matched which should produce close racing with no obvious overall winner in any of the groups.
For this meeting only, there will be free admission for students and children under 16.
Everything You Need To Know:
Meeting Date : Saturday night~December~6~2014.
Venue: Gillman Speedway Stadium, 65 Wilkins Road, Gillman – near the Port Adelaide area.
Gates open: at 5 pm.
Racing starts: at 7.30 pm. Free spectator access to the pits for a close look at the bikes until approximately 6.30 pm.
Riders:
Gillman Solo Championship: Robert Branford, Arlo Bugeja, Jack Fallon (Vic), Robert Medson, Cooper Riordan (Vic), Justin Sedgmen (Vic), Brodie Waters (Vic)
Gillman Division 2 Solo Championship: Gary Fischer, Matthew Flay, Seth Hickey, Jake Mitchell, Jack Morrison (Vic), Blake Ridley, Jordan Stewart (Vic), Brady Webb (WA)
Gillman Under 16 250cc Solo Championship: Declyn Adams Vic, Dakota Ballantyne, Aden Clare (NSW), Mitchell Grech, Jaimon Lidsey (Vic), Matthew Marson (WA), Brayden McGuinness, Jack Sylvia (Vic),
Group 1 Sidecars: Brenten Dwyer/Daz Whetstone, Arron Hartwig / Teagan Hartwig, Jason Hardy / Adam Pascoe, Daniel Puddy / Luke Puddy, Rob Patterson / Brenton Kerr (Vic)
Group 2 Sidecars: Shane Rudloff / Damian Egan, Timothy Bichard / Dale Knights, Clinton Crabb / Jarred Edey, Kym Menadue / Anthony Schulz, Ricky Fechner/Justin Richards
Group 3 Sidecars: Dean Hobbs / Andy Westover, Mal Greig/Scott Banyer, Keith Bichard / Derick Thomas, Brian Silvy / Josh Knott, Darryll Woods/Will Walker,
125cc Junior Solos (infield track): Fraser Bowes, William Coombes, Hugh Evans, Mitchell Grech, Liam May, Brayden McGuinness, Jack Norman, Seth Pascoe, Nicholas Possingham, Layne Riordan, Jack Sadler
Sponsor: CBS Bins & CBS Temporary Fencing
CBS Bins and CBS Temporary Fencing are family owned and operated businesses which commenced in 1975 when Graham and Marion Baker started in business with the purchase of a model 610 Bobcat.
As the years progressed they were joined by their sons Steven, Mark and Darren, and today CBS Bins has grown into one of South Australia’s leading waste and rubbish removal companies, and the newer company of CBS Temporary Fencing has also earned a good reputation for the reliable provision of temporary fencing.
Sadly Graham passed away in January 2013, but his family continue to support Gillman Speedway and Graham’s past support has been remembered by the western end terraced area being named The Graham Baker Terrace.
Admission:
Adults $25, Age Pension $20, Students and Children Under 16 free. Programme $5. Parking free.
Concession is limited to holders of the Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card.
Weather Forecast: Maximum 28, minimum 14. Partly cloudy. [www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/Adelaide]
Souvenirs: There is a well-stocked souvenir shop including the latest Blackchrome manufactured shirts and jackets. Eftpos available only in the souvenir shop.
Food and drink: Full bar and catering available. Food includes hot chips, hamburgers, chicken burgers, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, Chiko Rolls, dim sims, hot dogs, doughnuts, coffee, cold drinks, sweets. Please note a condition of our liquor licence is no byo alcohol or glass can be brought into the venue. Also note no pets, other than guide dogs, are allowed into the venue.
Seating: There are large terraced and grassed viewing mounds and but no grandstand seating, so bring deck chairs or blankets if you do not want to sit on the grass.
Directions:
The best way to get to Gillman Speedway is off Hanson Road.
If you are coming from the eastern and southern suburbs, get on to Hanson road off Torrens Road or Grand Junction Road, travel north on Hanson road over the train line then take the first road on the left, which is Wilkins road.
From the northern suburbs, travel down the new Port Adelaide expressway and take the Hanson Road exit. Once on Hanson Road, take the first exit on your right, this is Wilkins road.
From the western suburbs, Wilkins Road is the continuation of Bedford Street, north of Eastern Parade.
For interstate visitors flying into Adelaide and getting a hire car, Gillman is about 20kms, and 30 minutes’ drive (depending on traffic lights) from the airport.
The easiest and most direct way, if not going to your accommodation first is:
On leaving the airport, turn left onto Sir Donald Bradman Drive. Continue along Sir Donald Bradman Drive until you reach the end of the airports grounds and turn right onto Tapleys Hill Road. Once you are on Tapleys Hill Road you can’t really go wrong. You only have to make three or four turns and most of those are simple. Just keep going on Tapleys Hill Road until you can’t go any further. That’s Port Road. Turn left onto Port Road. You can only turn left, you can’t go straight ahead or turn right, so pretty easy to this point. Continue down Port Road for about 1 km to the first intersection which is Grand Junction road and turn right. You only go 700 metres along Grand Junction Road over a bridge over a railway line. Stay in the left lane because at the bottom of the bridge you turn left into Gray Terrace. Go to the end of Gray Terrace (there is a slight detour along Gray Terrace at the moment) and turn right (you can’t go straight ahead) onto Bedford Street. Just keep going on that Road until you get to the speedway. About 2 kms.
Accommodation:
There is plenty of accommodation in Adelaide and suburbs, within 20-30 minutes of the Speedway, ranging from five star hotels to caravan parks and backpacker hostels. The Pavlos Motel on Main North Road, Pooraka; and the Mawson Lakes Hotel and Function Centre, Main Street, Mawson Lakes, are offering a discount to speedway fans but you must ring the venues direct and ask for the Gillman Speedway discount. Full details are on the Gillman website under the information/accommodation tab.
Contact for this meeting: Speedway Manager, David Parker 0403 364 6580403 364 658
"DYNAMIC" Dave "The Dynamo" Parker
Speedway Manager
Gillman Speedway Stadium Adelaide Soth Australia
0403 364 658
Gillman Speedway came about as the result of the closure of the nearby North Arm Speedway in March 1997.
David Parker, as President of the Speedway Riders’ Association of South Australia Inc., inspected many sites before it was decided, with the help of Motorcycling SA President Ivan Golding, to move to the Heini Becker Park Motorsport Complex at Gillman.
The area where the Gillman Speedway Stadium is now located was covered by truck loads of dirt and rubbish and was used as a supercross track by the MRA. With no more than an old water truck, an old Gallion Grader and a Massie Ferguson tractor, the race was on to get a track down by the summer to allow continuity of the sport without a break.
With no money for a new track surface, a small 213 metre track was formed using dolomite taken from the old North Arm track, with used car tyres for a safety fence and after a try out in early October the first official practice was held on Sunday, 19 October 1997.
The original 213 metre track in March 1998. Photo: Jeff Sutton.
The back straight with part of the 400 metre track in the background. Photo: Jeff Sutton
Bikes leave the start line on the original 213 metres track. Photo: Frank Midgley.
Low key practice meetings were held on a more-or-less monthly basis while a larger 400 metre track was also formed, with just a basic dirt surface. The 400 metre track was approximately where the current track is, with turns one and two (for Solos) of the larger track doubling as the main straight of the smaller track which ran North-South. The first full meeting on the larger track was held on Saturday, 16 May 1998.
For two years we continued to run low key meetings monthly, usually on Sunday afternoons, until November 1999 when a practice session was held under temporary lights, powered by generators. The practice went well and on Friday, 7 January 2000 the first night meeting was staged, which was the South Australian Solo Championship. A second night meeting featuring Australian Sidecar Champions Glenn and Nathan O’Brien was held on 24 March 2000. Both of these night meetings were on the 213 metre track.
Throughout this time plans were continuing on turning the venue into what we now have.
With the financial help of a couple of speedway-passionate people and the manpower of a few more interested people, riders and parents, the existing two tracks were leveled over the Winter of 2000 and the 295 metre track we now have was built.
Still using the generator-powered temporary lights the new track successfully opened on Australia Day (26 January) 2001 with the staging of the Jack Young Solo Cup and the Harry Denton Memorial Shield for Sidecars.
An estimated 1,500 spectators saw Nathan Simpson win the first race in a time of 59.59 seconds which became, and remained, the track record until Leigh Adams’ first ride in heat 11, when Adams reduced the record to 57.81. Adams went on to win the Final from Shane Parker, Travis McGowan and Nigel Sadler, while Townsville’s Gary Moon and Chris Hughes won the Harry Denton Shield ahead of the current Australian Champions Glenn and Nathan O’Brien from Perth, Justin Plaisted/Mark Plaisted and Ron Parker/Shane Rudloff.
A further two night meetings were held in February and March 2001, including the Australian Under 21 Solo Championship.
After another two seasons under the temporary lights, including a Test Match between Young Australia and Young England, further financial assistance from private individuals enabled us to connect to the power grid and erect permanent lighting. At the same time work was constantly going on building up and greening the spectator viewing mounds.
In the winter of 2006 a Junior track was built on the infield to encourage junior development and was opened in October by legendary Rowley Park Speedway promoter Kym Bonython. Also at this time with severe mains water restrictions, a bore was sunk to allow us to water the track and irrigate the lawns, and new change rooms with showers were built in the pits.
The following winter the VIP/ Function area was built and for the first time the Speedway Riders Association had a clubrooms of their own and somewhere to call home.
In the Winter of 2008 a new grader and water truck were purchased with the generous support of our major sponsors.
Prior to the 2009/10 season the wind-break fence was erected along the top of the western mound, and more canteens were built on both sides of the stadium to cater for the bigger crowds attracted to the major event nights such as the Australian Championship.
The winter of 2011 was a busy one and saw three major improvements – the spectator viewing mound at the western end was fully terraced, the main canteen was enlarged and re-fitted to allow for a greater variety of food, and perhaps most important of all, a Speedway Safety System Airfence, the most up-to-date and safest Speedway fence that is manufactured, was purchased and installed in November 2011. Full details of the Airfence can be seen on the Stadium tab on the Gillman Speedway website.
The western mound in April 2011.
Early stages of terrace construction in July 2011.
The finished terracing in November 2011.
With the 2011 projects – the terracing of the western mound and the improved canteens – aimed at improving spectator comfort, attention switched more to the riders in the winter of 2012 with the construction of covered pit bays. With some financial assistance from a State Government Grant, granted in recognition of Gillman Speedway’s contribution to the sporting fabric of Port Adelaide, 91 metres of covered bays were built along the back boundary of the pits, each bay complete with lights, power and compressed air. And they have been built in such a way that the public is still able to view the riders from a path which runs behind the pits. Other improvements included a new ticket box at the main gate and the introduction of electronic tills.
Work started on covering the pit bays in July 2012
Covered pit bays in July 2012.
The pit bays during the 2012/13 season.
A New Holland TL90 tractor was purchased to replace the old International tractor. The tractor has a specially built frame on the back which allows us to smooth out the dirt and bring it back down to the inside race line to keep the track more consistent all night, without the need of a 20 minute track grade with the large grader.
The major, immediately noticeable work undertaken during the 2013 winter was the bituminised pit surface put down by Downer, a leading engineering and infrastructure services company with a long and strong South Australian footprint. Less obvious were sumps which were put in the pits and turn one for sidecars, which included a submersible pump which automatically switches on to pump water away from the venue.
Ground work for the new pit surface
Laying the surface
The finishing touches
In conjunction with the bituminising of the pits, a new medical room was put in the pits, which followed a new pit office which was put in place towards the end of the 2012/13 season. To finish a busy winter of activity, two new toilet blocks were added behind the main bar/canteen area near the pits, a toilet was built for the VIP Area, and the wind-break fence along the top of the western terracing was extended a further 46 metres down to the canteen area.
There will be more improvements in the years to come. For example, the spectator area alongside the back straight has been deliberately left flat as we want to eventually (when funds allow) build a grandstand there.