FIRST TIME WINNERS IN ALL THREE GILLMAN TITLES
Feature photo by: Judy Mackay…First and second in the Gillman Solo Championship, Dayle Wood (left) and Jake Turner.
Gillman Media: November 24, 2025
Rain all day forced the postponement of the Gillman meeting scheduled for Saturday night (November 22) to midday the next day, when the weather couldn’t have been more different, and on a sweltering hot, humid day, Solos, Sidecars and Flat Track Solos all contested the Gillman Speedway track championships.
In the 500cc Solo class, Mildura-based Dayle Wood showed a much smoother and more controlled style than in the past to top score in the heats, with 11 of a possible twelve points, and then win the final ahead of Jake Turner, Harry Sadler and Jack Norman.
Turner inflicted Wood’s only defeat in the last heat, and they were side-by-side for the first half a lap in the final but then Wood pulled away for an untroubled win.
Harry Sadler and Jack Norman had several close battles for the minor placings in both the heats and the final. Norman won the Australian Under 16 125cc Championship as a 13-year-old in 2015, ahead of Keynan Rew and Jaimon Lidsey, but never went into senior speedway until last March, and was only in his third meeting since returning to the sport.
Local star Fraser Bowes was the championship favourite, but had a day to forget, twice failing to get past the first corner with mechanical problems. He scored enough points in his other rides to qualify for the final but was a non-starter.
In the Sidecars, Justin Plaisted/Brian Anthony were unbeaten in the heats and led for three laps in the final only to beaten by Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner.
Plaisted was riding a bike borrowed from Mick Farrell and clung to the inside line all day and in the final Headland attempted to get through on the inside for a couple of laps but then, with a powerful burst of speed, roared around the outside of at the end of the third lap and into the last lap for a narrow.
Despite being a former Australian champion the win was Headland’s first in his local track championship.
Kiwis Taylor Green/Callum Innes, who stayed over for the postponement despite a lot of extra cost and MA paperwork, finished third and Josh Pascoe/Dale Knights were fourth.
Pascoe/Knight’s fourth place continued their fine form from the previous weekend when they won the inaugural Spotty Burke Memorial at Broken hill, and they were direct qualifiers for the final on countback after beating Green/Innes in heat 8 which was the Kiwis first defeat at Gillman after seven straight wins over the opening two meetings.
Highlights amongst the non-qualifiers for the final, were the form of Nate Headland/Harry Hearne and Byron Mordaunt/Jarrad Katzorke. Headland was making his first sidecar appearance at Gillman since breaking both legs 21 months ago (after making his first comeback rides at Broken Hill the previous weekend) and was quickly on the pace, scoring 9 points and finishing second to Green in the semi-final. Mordaunt was much better than his 7 points would indicate, and was even the early leader against Plaisted and Trent Headland in heat three. Mordaunt’s brother Jason, in his first season, also rode well and was a lot better than his lowly two points would suggest.
Trent Headland’s passenger Jaxon Rayner picked up a second gold when he was unbeaten in the Flat Track Championship, with Port Pirie long-track veteran David Footner second and Graeme Eberhard third. Rayner and Footner dominated the meeting, while Eberhard got the better of Greg Laanekorb and Con Twist in the heats and the final.
There is nothing between the current top four in the 125cc juniors at the moment — Blake Schlein, Ryleigh McGregor, Riley Stout and Hayden Pascoe — but on this occasion it was Stout who delivered the goods, going through the heats unbeaten and then winning the final with Schlein second, McGregor third and Pascoe fourth.
