Australian Champions take the Bob White Cup at Gillman

Gillman Media 24 March 2026

Australian Champions Mark Plaisted and Ben Pitt did as expected and took out the annual Bob White Sidecar Cup for the first time at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night (21 March), but it wasn’t entirely clear cut with close racing and strong opposition during the night.

Plaisted and Pitt were out in the first heat and duly won but were harassed throughout by the closing following Shane Rudloff and Kane Golding.

The other winners in first round of heats were Byren Gates/Damian Egan, who beat Shane Hudson/Jack Spear and Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski; and Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan, who had a comfortable win in hear three while Jason Mordaunt/Luke Puddy, Josh Pascoe/Jamie Flood and Stephen Fowler/Jeremy Sherwood had an exciting battle for second place which went to Mordaunt from Fowler after Pascoe spun off the track in the last corner.

Plaisted/Pitt were up against Hudson/Spear in heat four and it was Hudson/Spear who took the win. They hit the front from the start and riding a tight line, Plaisted/Pitt were unable to pass and were actually almost beaten on the line for second by Pascoe/Flood.

Gates/Egan beat Rudloff/Golding in heat five, and Menadue/Dolan won heat five after a good race with Silvy/Zaworski. Menadue/Dolan were the early leaders but Silvy/Zaworski took the lead at the end of the second before Menadue/Dolan regained the lead with an outside pass on the last lap.

So at the half-way mark it was Gates/Egan and Menadue/Dolan leading the way, both unbeaten on six points, with Hudson/Spear and Plaisted/Pitt on 5.

Rudloff/Egan and Hudson/Spear won heats seven and eight, before Gates/Egan, Menadue/Dolan and Plaisted/Pitt were drawn to meet in heat nine. Gates came from last through to second on the first lap but Plaisted/Pitt were off in the distance in their best ride so far, and their win, with Gates second and Menadue third, looked like presenting a nightmare for officials as, with only one round to go, and only the top two scorers going straight into the final, Plaisted/Pitt, Gates/Egan and Hudson/Spear were all on 8 points and unable to be separated by a countback.

Plaisted/Pitt and Gates/Egan had no trouble winning heats 10 and 11 respectively to move to 11 points, and when Hudson/Spear took the early lead in heat 12 in looked like the officials’ nightmare would happen, but in the best race of the night, maybe off the season, Shane Rudloff/Kane Golding got up for the win. Hudson/Spear, after taking the early lead, led narrowly for the first three laps with Rudloff/Golding and Menadue/Dolan side by side just behind them, but they were three wide through turn two on the last lap and it was Rudloff/Golding who came out in front down the back straight. Hudson tried to regain the lead in the last turn but spun off the track leaving Rudloff/Golding to take the win ahead of Menadue/Dolan, and Plaisted/Pitt and Gates/Egan as the two pairs to go straight into the final.

Rudloff/Golding (10 points) and Hudson/Spear (8) were pitched together again in the first semi-final but this time the win, and a place in the final, went to Hudson/Spear. Rudloff/Egan drew level under them on the last lap but then spun infield in the last turn, leaving Fowler/Sherwood (4 points) to finish second and Scott Morris/Jye Siddall (3) third.

The second semi-final was more clear cut with Menadue/Dolan (9) easy winners ahead of Silvy/Zaworski (7), William Walker/Liam Sherwood (3) and Peter Adams/Seth Pascoe (2) after the fast gating Walker/Sherwood were the early leaders.

The final was also clear cut with Plaisted/Pitt leading all the way from Gates/Egan and Hudson/Spear. The race was rerun after Menadue/Dolan clipped the fence, or heavy dirt near the fence, on the back straight on the first lap and Dolan took a heavy, and spectacular, tumble off the bike in turn three, fortunately without any serious injury.

The supporting Flat Track Solo handicap races again attracted the crowd’s interest as they watched veteran former Port Pirie long track rider David Footner come through from the 40 metre backmark in four of the five heats. His one loss was to John Blenkin, from the 20 metre mark, in heat four, but there was close racing between all six riders in every heat. Footner was the top scorer with 14 points, with Blenkin, Con Twist and Greg Laanekorb all on five points. Matt Paterson only managed 1 point, but was in the mix with the others right to the line in most heats and newcomer Nicholas Hutchinson was also in the mix in the early heats.

The highlight of the Classic Solo and Sidecar demonstrations was some close riding between Chris Rae/Jamie Flood and Kane Golding/Michael Potts in the sidecar events.

In the Under 16 events, Kobi Canning (12 points) clean-sheeted in the 250cc Solo class, while Ruby Chapman and Connor Machin (6 points each) shared the other placings, and state champion Hayden Pascoe was the star rider in the 125cc class, beating his main opposition Riley Stout twice in the heats and again in the Final. Stout finished second in the final, with Chase Maul-Dunn third and Nate Sadler fourth.