Australian Championship shakedown at Gillman October 5

Gillman Media Release 20 September 2024

Justin Plaisted and Damian Egan, winners of the Bob White Cup at the last Gillman meeting. Photo by Judy Mackay.

Gillman Speedway is holding a rare out-of-season meeting, on Saturday, 5 October, which will be a virtual shakedown meeting for the Australian Sidecar Championship.

The meeting, the Gillman Sidecar Masters, has come about because of the postponement of the 2023/24 Australian Championship which was originally scheduled for Tamworth, in New South Wales, on 6 April. With heavy rain during the week leading up to the championship, and a forecast for more rain over the championship weekend, the Tamworth Motorcycle Club had no choice but to postpone the championship.

The restaging dates decided on were 25-26 October which means most riders will have been idle for six months leading into the championship, hence Gillman has agreed to run the Sidecar Masters on 5 October to give the riders a full meeting under race conditions as preparation for the title.

Nominations do not close until Sunday 29 September 2024, but already most of the South Australian riders in the national championship have nominated including seeded rider Justin Plaisted/Damian Egan and Shane Hudson/Jack Spear, and Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris, Byron Mordaunt/Jarrad Katzorke, Josh Pascoe/Greg Black, Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner and Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski from the qualifying meeting.

In total 15 riders have nominated so far with the others being Dean Hobbs/Daniel Low (who were selected for the championship qualifier but have withdrawn), Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan, Thomas Adams/Seth Pascoe, Nathan Fleet/tba, Stephen Fowler/Jeremy Sherwood, Adam Pascoe/tba, Wayne Lethbridge/Grantley Simounds and Joshua Kerr/Kate Barnes.

As well as the Sidecar Masters, there will be a support programme of 500cc Solos, Flat Track Solos and Juniors.

In the 500cc Solo class 16-year-olds Ashley Jansen-Batchelor and Harry Sadler will be making their debuts in senior racing.

The new dates for the Australian Sidecar Championship has also meant a change of date for the annual Gillman speedway Classic Championships meeting. Usually held on the last Saturday night in October, this season it will be on Saturday, 2 November, followed by the opening summer season meeting a week later on 9 November.

Weather permitting there will be a full scale practice session, with tape starts, at Gillman tomorrow afternoon (21 September) commencing at 4 pm and going through until about 7 pm. Entry is free for spectators and canteen and bar facilities will be available.