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Last Updated: Nov 28th, 2010 - 10:22:29 |
The nation’s best speedway sidecar riders now know exactly who they have to beat in the 2010 PBOZ Australia and Suzuki of Newcastle sponsored Australian Speedway Sidecar Championship to be staged at the Newcastle Showground Speedway on the upcoming Easter weekend.
Motorcycling Australia this week announced the names of six riders who are ‘seeded’ directly into the Championship meeting on Easter Sunday night, while another 16 riders face a tough battle in the qualifying meeting on the afternoon of Easter Saturday if they are to win through to the title showdown.
The seeded six are the reigning national champions Mark Mitchell / Tom Golding (SA) together with the highest placed rider from the home state in each of the five mainland State Championship meetings.
Darrin Treloar / Justin Plaisted (NSW), Brodie Cohen / Gareth Ferguson (Q’land), Russell Mitchell / Tina Karan (WA) and Mick Headland (SA) with a yet to be confirmed passenger are also seeded each having won their home state championships.
The last of the seeded berths goes to Victorian team Byren Gates / Mick O’Loughlin who finished runners-up (behind Treloar / Plaisted) in the Victorian Championship.
Biggest surprise among those seeds is the reigning World and South Australian champion Mick Headland, who along with regular passenger Paul Waters, was injured in New Zealand in January.
While Waters’ injuries were more severe and he faces a longer spell on the sidelines Headland is obviously hoping to have overcome his injuries and be cleared to resume riding in time for Easter.
One passenger option for Headland might be his son Jesse, who normally swings with his brother Trent. They have not been included in the line-up for the Championship Qualifying meeting.
The Qualifying Meeting will boast an impressive line-up including two former national champions and a finalist from last year.
From the 16 contesting the Qualifying Meeting the top ten will win through to the Championship decider and while that does seem too tough a battle the overall quality of the line-up will ensure some cut-throat racing throughout.
Newcastle and Central Coast fans will be particularly pleased that all four teams from those areas who nominated have been included in the Qualifying Meeting. They are Darren Café / Don Morris, Grant Bond / Glen Cox, Mick Farrell / Wayne Farrell and James Hinton / Blake Cox.
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