16-year-old Justin Sedgmen made his first Gillman Speedway senior appearance a memorable one, for both himself and the good-sized crowd on hand, by taking out the prestigious Ivan Mauger Golden Helmet meeting with a smooth and stylish display on Saturday night (November 8).

Sedgmen had finished second to Jake Anderson in a similar event at the Renmark Speedway the previous weekend but reversed the results this time around by leading all the way in the final to win from Anderson, Todd Kurtz and Hugh Skidmore.

Anderson, who only turned 19 last month but was the oldest of the four finalists, looked the likely winner earlier in the night with convincing wins in his first three heats but he came unstuck in his last heat when he hit the fence and fell on the back straight of the opening lap.

Despite having won three of his four heats, 9 points was not enough to earn him direct entry into the final, but he had a second chance, which he gleefully took, by winning a semi-final to determine the fourth finalist.

The semi-final was meant to be for the fourth to seventh highest point scorers, but the scoring was so even in this entertaining meeting with young, mostly teenage, riders from all around Australia, that officials decided to run six riders in the race. That made things tight on the first lap and Ryan Sedgmen was taken high on the first lap and forced to back off which effectively ended his chances, while 16-year-old English rider Kyle Newman was also hampered in the same incident.

Newman, New South Wales' Hugh Skidmore and Western Australia's Shelby Rutherford, three riders all new to Gillman provided some exciting scraps during the night, but the most impressive ride of the night was an unexpected win by Todd Kurtz in heat ten.

Kurtz, who only turned sixteen four days before the meeting so was making his senior debut, surprised by being the early leader against the Sedgmen brothers and Anderson, but when Anderson hit the fence and fell the race was stopped. In the rerun Kurtz was pushed back into last place but on the third lap he amazed everyone by moving smoothly around first Ryan, and then Justin Sedgmen, to take the lead and then pull away slightly for a very good win.

Sidecar honours were shared between Darrin Treloar/Allan Griffiths and Mark Plaisted/Sam Harrison with Plaisted coming out ahead 2-1 in head-to-head clashes.

Plaisted beat Treloar when they first met in heat three, but Treloar reversed the result in heat six, so both went into the final with 11 out of a possible 12 points.

In the final Plaisted led all the way but was almost pipped on the line as they finished side-by-side. Mark Mitchell/Tom Golding finished third with Mick Headland/Paul Waters fourth.

Headland was behind the eight ball after a third-ride collision with Sydney's Phil Hudson/Mark Griffiths left him with a damaged bike and he was forced to use borrowed bikes in his remaining rides.

The Quad races produced a mixed bag of results for all except Greg Mould who won all three of the Division 2 scratch races, recorded the fastest time of the night, and then led all the way from the front mark to win the six lap feature handicap. Dan Jarvis, Troy Ellis and Darrell Knight shared the wins in the Division 1 scratch races.

Luke Mitchell was too good for the others in the Junior Solo races. After a first race fall when he clipped Sam Anderson's back wheel in the last corner, he won the other four heats ahead of Anderson and Jake Mitchell.

Classic TQ demonstrations rounded out the 35 event card.

Full heat results are on the Gillman website under the Results heading.