MOON AND LOVELL MAKE THE TRIP TO GILLMAN WORTHWHILE
Feature photo by: Judy Mckay
Townsville’s Tyler Moon and Adam Lovell made the over 2500 kilometre trip from Townsville to Gillman worthwhile when they outshone the local stars to win the Jim Irwin Sidecar Cup at the Ray White Gawler Stadium on Saturday night (January 24).
Those who arrived late to avoid the forecast heat missed a stacked first heat which pitched together the two favourites, Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner and Justin Plaisted/Brian Anthony, along with Nate Headland/Harry Hearne and Taylor Green/Callum Innes. Although close, Plaisted was able to lead Trent Headland all the way for a narrow win, and at that very early stage a lot would have thought Plaisted might go on to score a full 15 points, with Headland joining him in the final with 14.
But that was to be far from the case.
In his very next ride, heat five, Plaisted was excluded for what the referee deemed an overly aggressive inside pass on Zac Campbell/Jason Williams in turn four, and then he dropped another point when Shane Hudson/Jack Spear led him all the way in heat nine, and after twelve heats it was Hudson/Spear and Moon/Tyler who were on top of the scorecard, both unbeaten.
A quick scan of the programme to see when they would meet showed it was in their next ride, heat fifteen, so one was then going to drop a point . . . but Trent Headland was also in the race so there was a good chance both were going to be beaten. And for 90% of the race that looked like the likely outcome as Headland was well in front on the last lap, only to suffer a blown rear tyre in turn three. He spun and did really well not to back the bike into the fence. Fortunately Hudson and Moon were riding on the pole line so did not crash into Headland but Moon run into Hudson and also spin after the red lights came on. The result was declared with Headland excluded, giving Hudson the win, and Moon second.
Hudson, on 12, was now already guaranteed a place in the final, and Moon, on 11, was also all but guaranteed a place, with Plaisted and Trent Headland fighting for the third place.
Both were on 8 points, both had two wins, a second and a non-finish, and both were starting in red in their last heats. With both likely to win those heats, Plaisted would win the countback based on his victory over Headland in heat one.
But there were a couple of more twists to come yet.
If we thought Headland was unlucky to blow a tyre so late in his race, Plaisted was even unluckier.
He led throughout heat 17 and was going into the final when he too suffered a blown rear tyre coming out of the final turn. Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski were close enough to pass him, and then, as he fought to control the bike, Shane Rudloff/Jake Doyle also managed to pass him on the line, leaving him on 9 points and out of the final.
The drama continued in the next heat, 18, when Shane Hudson didn’t come out. With a place in the final already guaranteed there was some thought that maybe he was saving himself, and his bike, for the final, but it had been noticeable in his previous ride, in heat 15, that his bike was blowing some smoke and he seemed to be slowing so maybe there was a problem?
Trent Headland then had no trouble winning heat 19 to make the finalists Tyler Moon/Adam Lovell with 14 points, Shane Hudson/jack Spear on 12 and Trent Headland Jaxon Rayner on 11, with the semi-finalists Max Howse/Riley Commons (10), Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski (10), Justin Plaisted/Brian Anthony (9) and Zac Campbell/Jason Williams (9), but when the starters were announced there was no Hudson, and he later confirmed to speedway journalist Mark Neale that he did have an oil leak in heat 15 and despite wanting to ride again he wasn’t willing to risk a blown motor.
The officials then had the choice of just going with three in the final, putting the first two from the semi-final in, or putting the next highest scorer in Hudson’s place, and they chose the latter option with Howse/Commons promoted to the final, and Byron Mordaunt/Scott Cameron (7) taking their place in the semi-final ahead of Taylor Green/Callum Innes and Shane Rudloff/Jake Doyle on a countback of heat wins.
Plaisted/Anthony were obviously odds-on to win the semi-final but Silvy/Zaworski loomed as possible dark horses.
This meeting was probably the best Silvy has ever ridden but he was going to need a very good start and he got the exact opposite, with the bike rearing up out of the tapes and leaving them in last place.
They did get a second chance however when Mordaunt/Cameron made an inside pass on Campbell/Williams in turn four and Williams fell bringing on the red lights with Mordaunt excluded from the rerun. The second chance didn’t help though as they again found themselves in last place as Plaisted/Anthony led all the way for the win, with Campbell/Williams close behind at the finish.
So to the final and an Australian Championship line-up of Moon/Lovell in red, Headland/Rayner in blue, Howse/Commons in white and Plaisted/Anthony in yellow. In fact, they were four of the top five pointscorers in last season’s national championship.
Pretty hard to say anyone was a favourite, but perhaps the scales were tipped ever so slightly in Headland/Rayner’s favour as they had looked very fast against Hudson and Moon in heat 15, and had won the two previous feature events at Gillman this season, but after the shuffle for places through the first two corners, they found themselves in last place. They got around Howse/Commons at the end of the first lap and then they and Plaisted/Anthony had their own battle for second place but Moon/Tyler were long gone and had the win comfortably in their keeping. Headland and Plaisted exchanged places several times until heading towards turn three on the last lap Headland made an inside pass on Plaisted, there was some contact and Plaisted got out of shape, which caused Howse/Commons to go infield to avoid a possible collision.
The red lights came straight on and the Referee deemed Headland to be at fault and the placings were awarded Moon/Lovell first, Plaisted/Anthony second and Howse/Commons third.
Justin Plaisted/Brian Anthony (yellow) and Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner battle for second place in the final. Photo by Judy Mackay.
The only support events were Flat Track Solos and each of their heats featured some close racing between Adam Lovell, David Footner and Jesse Headland, but it was Lovell who finished in first place in each of the five scratch races. The final heat was to be a handicap and interest was high to see how Lovell would go from the backmark, but disappointingly for fans it was changed to a scratch race and Lovell again won to finish with the maximum possible 18 points, while Footner and Headland shared the second and third placings to both finish on 9 points. Combined with his Sidecar duties Lovell actually left with 11 wins and a second from 12 starts.
Tyler Moon (left) and Adam Lovell with Jim Irwin. Photo by Mark Neale.
Guest of honour, 70-year-old Jim Irwin, with Jeremy Sherwood as passenger, also had a couple of demonstration rides on one of his old bikes, now owned by Josh Kerr in Mildura, a despite the engine back-firing managed times of 64.581 and 64.261.
The junior events were cancelled during the week because of the heat forecast but while conditions were stinking hot for Seane Chapman and Adam Possingham preparing the track during the day, by the time the gates opened the cloud cover meant a perfect night for speedway.
