Luke Becker takes SA Championship

Gillman Media 30 December 2025

As expected, 26-year-old Luke Becker from Brentwood, California, became the first American rider to win the South Australian 500cc Solo Championship title when he won 2025/26 Ray White Gawler-sponsored event at Gillman Speedway in Adelaide on Sunday night (28 December).

Becker, who rides in the British, Polish, Swedish and Danish speedway leagues, was clearly the best rider on show, and won the final comfortably, but it wasn’t all plain-sailing for the American, who had to go through the last chance semi-final after some mishaps in the heats.

After winning his first ride, Becker was leading eventual championship runner-up Leon Flint in his second heat when he lost a chain and fell on the last lap. After a further two wins he had another glitch in the final heat when he ran out of fuel while chasing Tate Zischke for the lead with a lap to go, and 9 points was not enough to go straight into the final.

The three riders who went into the final were Zischke with 14 points, Flint with 13 and Scott Nicholls with 12. Zischke dropped his only point to Flint in the first race of the night, while Flint, who was the only unbeaten rider after two rides, was beaten by an impressive Jacob Hook and Nicholls. Nicholls was beaten by Becker, Zischke and Mitch McDiarmid.

Hook was the next best on the scorecard with 10 points, and the recently deposed Workington Rider of the Year was possibly a bit unfortunate not to be one of the direct qualifiers for the final. He was sitting comfortably on 8 points after three rides, including victories over Flint, McDiarmid and Luke Harrison, but crashed heavily into the fence while dicing with Justin Sedgmen for the lead in his fourth ride. Despite the heavy hit he managed to come out for his last ride and finished second behind Zischke to secure a place in the semi-final with Becker, Sedgmen and Harrison, all on 9 points.

Just missing out where McDiarmid and Alex Adamson on 8. McDiarmid’s 8 points came from his first four rides, but he missed what looked like a certain semi-final berth when he fell on the third lap in his last ride after he and Harrison had been exchanging the lead over the first two laps.

Hook, Sedgmen and Harrison were probably a bit surprised to be meeting Becker in the semi-final, which more or less scuppered their chances of a place in the final, although Hook gave it a good go for a lap before Becker pulled away. On Saturday night’s form, Workington could do worse than to reconsider having Hook back in 2026, although, of course, we don’t know what the financial situation between them is. The race had to be restarted after Harrison reared up and fell between turns one and two, and Sedgmen had to quickly throw his bike down to avoid the young Englishman. Sedgmen’s laydown was one of quite a few during the night, and all were very well done and avoided what could otherwise have been some serious injuries.

The final was all Becker as he won by a large margin while Flint, Nicholls and Zischke fought out second place which eventually went to Flint with Zischke third and Nicholls fourth. Zischke lost his chance of an Aussie victory against the overseas riders when he found himself just in the wrong place on the track a couple of times on the first two laps.

The support events were 500cc races for the championship reserves, the South Australian Under 16 250cc Solo Championship, and the under 16 125cc riders on the infield junior track during the main track grades, and all produced some close and exciting racing, with 52-year-old Steven Graetz providing some of the most exciting riding in the 500cc events. Graetz picked up a couple of rostrum places in the SA Championship back in the 1990s when racing against the likes of Ryan Sullivan and Shane Parker, and while, at 52, those days are past him he can still supply some thrills at the lower level.

The Under 16 250cc Championship went to the recently crowned Australian Champion Cooper Antone. Antone was unbeaten on the night but North Queensland’s Ky Mitchell took the challenge up to him in the final. The finalists saw four different States represented with Antone from New South Wales on 12 points, Nate Smith from Victoria on 9, local SA rider Kobi Canning on 8, and Mitchell, who scored 7 and then beat Nate Shortt in the last chance semi-final.

The first attempt only got as far as turn two when Canning lifted and fell. In the rerun Mitchell got the better of Antone at the start and the two 13-year-old, the youngest in the line-up, had a thrilling side-by-side race until Mitchell lifted and fell in turn one on the third lap, with Smith executing one of the aforementioned classy lay-downs. In the second rerun, between just Antone and Smith, Antone led all the way.

The 125cc final went to Australian champion Blake Schlein, ahead of the Australian Pairs champions, Ryleigh McGregor and Riley Stout, but McGregor was excluded for a couple of infield incursions in his attempts to pass Schlein, making the result Schlein, Stout, and Chase Maul-Dunn.

The next Gillman meetings are the final of the Australian Championship on Friday, 9 January, and the FIM Oceania Championship on Sunday, 11 January. Both are qualifying rounds for the Speedway Grand Prix and the list of riders can be found under the Nominations tab on the Gillman Speedway website.