INTERNATIONAL SOLO FEAST AT GILLMAN SPEEDWAY
Feature photo by: Judy Mackay…American Luke Becker in red against Australian stars Chris Holder (blue) and Sam Masters (white).
Adelaide fans can look forward to a feast of International Solo action with the three major meetings of the season set for Gillman Speedway during a two week period over the post-Christmas/early new year, starting with the Ray White Gawler South Australian Championship this Sunday night, December 28.
Twenty-four riders from the USA, England, New Zealand, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, and, of course, South Australia, have entered for the state championship, which should ensure some cracking racing not only in the championship events, but the support events also as there will be some quality riders who miss out on the main event.
Faced with a difficult task of selecting the line-up for the championship, the Motorcycling South Australia Speedway Sports Manager has chosen to seed 14 riders, with the other 10 contesting time trials to decide the remaining two championship berths.
While the likely champion is hard to predict, the favourite for many will be 26-year-old Luke Becker from Brentwood, California. Becker is the number one American rider competing in Europe and in 2025 he rode for Leicester in the British League, Ostrów in Poland, Indianerna in Sweden and Esbjerg in Denmark. If he can win he will be the first American rider to win the title.
Another overseas rider who should figure prominently is England’s Scott Nicholls. The former Speedway Grand Prix rider, and seven-time British Champion is now a veteran in the sport, but is still a leading rider for Plymouth in the British Championship league.
At the other end of the experience scale are two other English riders, 22-year-old Leon Flint, who rides for Sheffield, with the Holder brothers, in Britain, and Landshut in the Polish league, and 18-year-old Luke Harrison who won the British Under-19 Championship in October.
New Zealand will be represented by two riders who have raced at Gillman before, Jake Turner from Auckland, and Ben Whalley from Christchurch. Turner finished second in the 2023 title and third in 2024, while Whalley is the current New Zealand Champion. But, such is the strength of the line-up, Whalley has only been chosen for the qualifying time trials.
The other seeded riders are Queenslanders Tate Zischke and Jacob Hook, WA’s Mitchell McDiarmid, Victorians Justin Sedgmen, Jack Morrison and Dayle Wood, NSW’s Alexander Adamson and local riders Fraser Bowes and Harry Sadler.
Seventeen year-old McDiarmid is the current WA champion and the youngest rider to win the title when he won the 2025 title as a 16-year-old. Sedgmen is a four-time Victorian champion and three-time SA champion, and Bowes has been runner-up in three of the last four SA championships. He is desperate to take the top spot on the podium but this year’s event is probably the toughest line-up he has faced. Zischke, Hook, McDiarmid, Sedgmen, Wood and Bowes all rode in the British League this year, making 10 current British League riders in the 14 seeded riders.
Joining the NZ champion Whalley in the qualifying will be Mitchell Cluff, Noah Grabham and Lachlan Russell from NSW, Matthew Marson and Jack McDiarmid from WA, Isaiah Hartley and Tayla Street from Victoria and SA riders Steven Graetz and Jack Norman. Cluff’s inclusion in the qualifying again emphasises the strength of the line-up as he is the defending champion after beating Fraser Bowes in a thrilling race, in which the lead changed several times, last season.
The format of the championship is 20 heats with the highest three point scorers going into a final along with the winner of a last-chance semi-final for the fourth to seventh highest scorers.
Also on the programme is the South Australian 250cc Solo Championship for riders under 16, and the line-up includes nine of the riders, from Qld, NSW, Vic, WA and SA, who contested the recent Australian Championship, including winner Cooper Antone, and also has a dash of international flavour with the inclusion of Danish youngster Storm Thomsen.
As usual, the under 16 125cc riders, including newly crowned Australian Champion Blake Schlein from Mildura, will compete on the infield junior track during the main track grades.
Gates will open at 4pm, and the first heat will start at 7pm, following the qualifying time trails and a track prep.
For those who can’t attend, the meeting will be livestreamed through the website link https://www.spacequakesports.com. As always this is the only official livestreaming link. Any other links touted on facebook sites (other than the official Gillman speedway facebook site) are scams and should be ignored.
