The Speedway Sidecar season is drawing to a close and the biggest event is saved for last with the Nankang Tyres Australian Sidecar Championship finale at Gillman Speedway, Adelaide. Australia’s premier Speedway Sidecar riders will go head to head for the championship title. The racing takes place Easter long weekend, in a three-day festival event from Friday to Sunday with a total of 24 riders taking part.
Good Friday will showcase an open stadium with free entry to the “Festival of Speed”. The festival will include a wide variety of classic and modern bikes and cars for the fans to see! There will also be interviews with the stars of the sport and activities for the kids. The festival was extremely popular last year and will not be one to miss.
Saturday will play host to a qualifying meeting to allow eight riders to enter the Championship final on Easter Sunday. Those who qualify will meet the eight star sidecar riders who have already qualified.
Several talented riders will miss out from competing on Sunday, as the qualifying session will include many talented sidecar riders, meaning Sunday’s racing will feature the best of the best in the nation. Sunday’s action will be reduced down to the best 16 riders.
Finally the big finale on Sunday will pit the cream of the crop against the new qualifiers. Big names who have already seeded include nine-times Australian Champion Darrin Treloar (Blake Cox) and recent FIM World Cup winner and FIM Oceania Champion Warren Monson (Andrew Summerhayes).
Not only will they have to face the recent champions, superstars Trent Headland (Darryl Whetstone), Russell Mitchell (Andy Gajek), Aaron Hartwig (Teagan Hartwig), Tyler Moon (Adam Lovell), Rick Howse (Adam Commons) and Brodie Cohen (Damian Egan) have also already qualified.
The Australian Title winners will gain entry into next year’s FIM World Cup.
Kiwi rider Andrew Buchanan (Denny Cox) is excited ahead of the Championship finale after recently being granted an MA license.
“It’s the best Championship in the world to be honest. With the best bikes predominantly from Australia and it’s a hard fought contest.
“I work a lot in Australia these days and I was granted an MA license, which granted us entry for the Australian title. We’ve been racing in Australia for 6 years, so its great to be invited into the Australian Speedway.
“I’m taking it one race at a time, the FIM World Cup and FIM Oceania are finished now, so we’ll have to compete on qualifying on Saturday and not look to far ahead.”
It’s no easy task to compete in the qualifying session on Saturday and win the championship title but it has been achieved before!
Don’t have any plans for the Easter Weekend? Make the trek over to Gillman Speedway for the Australian Sidecar Championship finale
Venue: Gillman Speedway, Adelaide
Festival of Speed: Friday 14 April, 10am to 4pm, free entry.
Qualifying Saturday: Saturday 15 April, Gates open 2pm
Australian Sidecar Championship Final: Sunday 16 April, Gates open 5pm
Racing Starts: 7:30 both nights
Practice: Saturday 4:30pm to 5:30pm. No practice on Sunday
