Headland 1, Headland 2, Headland excluded at Gillman

Gillman Media 23 February 2026

IT was the Headland show at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night, with only Byren Gates and Damian Egan able to intrude on the party in the Ray White Gawler South Australian Championship, but it wasn’t totally smiles and celebrations all around as, once again, the meeting ended in controversy, which seems almost obligatory for this event.

The meeting featured a top-class line-up, including the top five from last season’s Australian Championship – Mark Plaisted, Trent Headland, Tyler Moon, Justin Plaisted and Byren Gates — which deservedly attracted a large crowd, but there was some early disappointment when Moon was unable to get to Adelaide, although his bike was already here, and also when another front runner, Shane Hudson was out, apparently because of passenger Jack Spear being ill.

Nevertheless, still a strong field, and made even stronger when Mick Headland, making his only appearance so far this season, was able to jump straight into top gear. Headland doesn’t like riding without his regular passenger, Brenton Kerr, who has been unavailable this season, but son Jesse Headland talked him into getting together for the State title and it paid dividends – at least early on – when they picked up $1000 from sponsor Ray White Gawler for the fastest time in the 1 lap flying start Dash for Cash. Mick and Jesse clocked a 14.301 seconds lap, to just edge out Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner (14.352) and Trent Headland/Harry Hearne (14.428) in a Headland trifecta and an early sign of what was to come later in the night.

Mick and Jesse showed it was no flash in the pan by taking out their first heat as well, but they were beaten by Trent/Jaxon in their second heat and after four rounds it was Trent/Jaxon who were leading the way with an unbeaten 12 points, ahead of Mick/Jesse on 11, with both seemingly going into the final barring any unanticipated mishap.

The odds were looking good also for a third Headland bike in the final, with Nate/Harry next on 10 points, but Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan, showing their known form after a previously mediocre season by their standards, were also on 10, and defending champion Mark Plaisted was on 9.

Plaisted was without his regular passenger Ben Pitt, who was sidelined with a work-related back injury, and riding with fill-in passenger Brendan Johnson for the first time they hadn’t looked a serious threat, although they were still in the hunt and were obviously still capable of producing the one ride required to win the title if they were able to reach the final.

While Mark was a little off the pace that had enabled him to win the last four SA championships, he was having a much better night than brother Justin who was once again beset by bike problems, which have hampered him all season. He and passenger Brian Anthony had trouble right from the off when they were unable to put down a decent lap in the Dash for Cash. They did manage to struggle on for two points in their first heat, but pulled infield on the first lap in their next heat and where out for the rest of the night. Speedway journalist Mark Neale has since reported that Justin had fuel issues and made a quick return flight to Sydney to pick up parts from his long-time sponsor Mick Farrell.

The first heat of the last round featured four teams all still in the race for a final or semi-final place — Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner, unbeaten on 12 points, Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan on 10, Byren Gates/Damian Egan on 7 and the Kiwis Taylor Green/Callum Innes also on 7. By this time it was expected Headland would complete the clean sweep of his heats, but in a shock result he could only manage third place with the win going to Gates/Egan ahead of Menadue/Dolan. One point for Headland was still enough to ensure a place in the final, but left the way open for Mick Headland to possibly top score and get first gate choice in the final.

Heat 18 brought together Nate Headland and Mark Plaisted and it looked like Plaisted could spoil the dream of a three Headland bike final. If Plaisted was to win both Plaisted and Headland would be tied on 12 points but with the same number of firsts and seconds, Plaisted would win the countback based on his win over Headland in this race, but in a major surprise it was Headland who led all the way to take the win to finish with 13 points and a place in the final, while Plaisted finished on 11 and was relegated to the semi-final.

Mick Headland/Jesse Headland then had no trouble winning heat 19 – in fact they were the only finishers – to finish as the top scorers with 14 points earning the previously mentioned first gate choice in the final. A bigger talking point of this heat was the unfortunate demise of Brian Silvy and Glen Zaworski. They were sitting on 7 points and were looking good for a semi-final berth, only to touch the tapes and instead their night was over.

In the final heat, with only two starters, Shane Rudloff/Jake Doyle and Byron Mordaunt/Scott Cameron, Mordaunt only had to finish the race to get the two points required to put him on 8 and into to the semi-final ahead of Green/Innes and Silvy/Zaworski on 7.

So, the line-up for the last chance semi-final was Menadue/Dolan in red, Plaisted/Johnson in blue, Gates/Egan in white and Mordaunt/Cameron in yellow, and it was Plaisted/Johnson who led through the first two turns, but Gates moved under Plaisted in turn three to take the lead with Menadue, Mordaunt and Plaisted three wide out of turn four, but at that instant there was a puff of smoke from Plaisted’s bike, and he pulled to the infield shortly after, where the bike then caught alight. While infield official Peter Engels was running to the bike with the fire extinguisher, Menadue and Mordaunt collided on the back straight on lap two, and Menadue lost a chain, and from there it was plain sailing for Gates to qualify for his first SA championship final, and a chance to prevent a Headland 1-2-3.

The line-up for the final was Mick Headland/Jesse Headland red, Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner blue, Nate Headland/Harry Hearne white and Byren Gates/Damian Egan yellow, and from the off it was all Mick and Jesse. They raced away and looked to be heading to a fifth SA championship win for Mick, but a couple of minor slips allowed Trent/Jaxon to make up ground and in the apex of turns three/four on the third lap, Trent ran into the back of Mick, who spun around and toppled over backwards, fortunately without any injuries to Mick and Jesse.

There was a lengthy delay while the referee studied the livestream replay and then the red light came on – Mick Headland excluded. The decision caused some booing from the crowd, but it is unknown if it was because they disagreed with the decision, or were just Mick Headland fans, but either way is was a disappointing end to the night.

But, of course, the night hadn’t actually finished, there was still a rerun to take place to decide the winner. With Mick out, Trent would have been odds on to take the title and he won the start, but then Nate (Trent’s son and Mick’s grandson) went around him in turn three to take the lead. With Harry Hearne anxiously watching where Trent was, Nate was able to hold a slight lead until the back straight on the last lap when Trent went around them to marginally hold the lead with half a lap to go. Trent stayed on the wide line, while Nate clung to the pole line and in the race to the line it was 19-year-old Tate and 22-year-old Harry who took the win by the narrowest of margins, about a wheel length.

In the support races, Jesse Headland at least had a win there, taking the Flat Track Solo final by 0.086 seconds after an exciting race with David Footner. In the earlier heats Footner top scored with 9 points, ahead of Headland on 8 and Chloe Ackerley on 7. Ackerley finished third in the final with John Blenkin fourth and Greg Laanekorb fifth.

In the Under 16 250cc Solo races it was good to see a third rider come to the tapes with Connor Machin making his 250 debut, but Kobi Canning was a clear cut winner ahead of Ruby Chapman and Machin in each of the four races, and his opening heat time of 59.593 was the fastest time of the night across all the classes.

The Under 16 125cc Solos races on the junior track were dominated by Rory Schlein and Riley Stout. A re-jigged programme due to some missing riders meant they did not meet in the heats and both went into the final with the maximum 12 points and after a close race it was Schlein who took the win from Stout, with Chase Maul-Dunn third and William Nicol fourth.