May the second had a few things going for it,firsly,it wasn't raining,it was sunny.Secondly it must have been a great day to be outdoors on a bike somewhere and where better than the State Titles on a belter of a track at the Salisbury Cycle speedway on a day that was just made for speedway and ninety five riders did just that!
By the time I got to the track ,parking was at a premium so I found what I could and joined the large and growing crowd around the fence.I saw familiar and unfamiliar faces about the place and one I was surprised to see was Ryan Edson , who was supposed to be living and racing in Sheffield but unfortunately for Ryan the $700 Visa hangup in Melbourne has ruined his chances for this season.
Ryans still committed and is still working on doing it though ,good luck Ryan.Ryan also raced hard and well today,as you would expect on his home track.
I also saw Warren Corbet , who broke his collarbone in the world titles,Warren told me that it's another two weeks before he's back in the saddle,according to the doctor.
The Ffrench boys are back in town and I noticed the medico bringing in extra surplies of bandages to meet the occaision!
I mentioned earlier about the track being a belter and this one really was.I spoke with the track manager, Kevin Bickle and he told me the previous days rain and a hell of a lot of packing with a heavy vehicle packed it solid with just the right amount of water in it to hold it together.
Daniel Pudney retired the bike he won his world title on and purchased a Bio bike , he didn't look comfortable on the bike in the few races I saw him ride it and has since un-retired his faithful old Archie to get back to some normal racing.
Now for some of the racing.
The parade lap saw the mass of bikes and riders surround the track with the meeting starting around an hour late due to computer problems.The national anthem was played and the riders left the track.
Todays ref was Meegan Rufus ,who did a top job too!
Firstup the Tinytots took to the track and allup there were nine of them and being a non-competitve grade they all recieved a little trophy for their efforts.They were Corey Munn,Jye Morrollo,Emma Nicholls,Cody James,Robert Corsaro,Tia Blatchford,Daniel Dobie,Tyson Osborne,Kailem Parfilo.
Division Seven had twelve starters and little Karah Schultz (16) was the only rider to go through to the final undefeated in this division with some excellent riding.A point further back was Blade Blatchford (15).Two riders who were a tad unlucky to miss the finals by a point or two were Aiden Weinert (12) and Jayden Zaltron (10).There was a tie between Jackson Dobie (13) and Declan Playfair (13) so a coin was tossed to see who took grids three or four. Either way they were both in the State Final for their division and that is always a chance.
Karah Schultz did a shade better than dad , who rode later in the over 30's , by taking out the final ahead of blade Blatchford , who also did better than her dad who also was racing later.She picked up second over Declan Playfair and Jackson Dobie , who also upstaged his dad! in fourth.Others that competed in the Aussie titles were, not in finishing order , Daniel Nicholls , Thomas Jansen , Locke Pearce , Nathan White , David Forrester , Miriam Thompson.
Karah Schultz is the Division Seven State Champion for 2009.
Division Six also had twelve starters and speaking of close racing , these guys literally fought it out to the end with some great racing, which what you would expect at a state championship.I saw a few riders change what they were doing on this track after the first round and that shows they learn young in this game.However , again , only one rider took a maximum into the state final for this division and that was Todd Clarke (16).
Dropping only a point on his way to grid two in the final was Jack Norman (15) who has been very fast lately and has been training well.This where it gets interesting as the next two spots had a four way tie with the following riders locked on (12) Peter Morrollo ,Mathew Snowden ,Jake Kerley (who was involved in a spectacular accident during the heats along with Danielle Zaltron ,who got airborne in the crash) and Kian Bird.
From what I can recall there was a ride off involving these riders and a toss for the grids three and four, don't quote me on that! Either way grid three went toJake Kerley and four to Mathew Snowden. The two unlucky other riders came so close to a state final and just missed,still theres always next year.The final was won by Jack Norman ,who also kept his best ride going to the end.
Second went to Todd Clarke, who ,I think has a fall and remounted, ahead of Mathew Snowden and Jake Kerley. Others that competed,not in finishing order , Kaeden Langham ,Kyle Osbourne ,Angel Cosaro ,Matthew Forrester and Michael Ratcliff.
Jack Norman is the Division Six State Champion for 2009.
Division Five had eight starters and no-one carried an unbeaten ride into the final so the outcome of this division was certainly going to be hard to predict.The closest to being unbeaten was Mathew Bryant (15) closely followed byTrent Forrester (14) and again a tie for third grid spot between Jake Mathews (13) and Shiranta Aston (13),who has been absolutely flying lately.
A toss of the coin soon sorted that out and the final got under way. Big Trent Forrester had some trouble in the backstraight and went down however the win went to Mathew Bryant followed by Shiranta Aston in second , third went to Jake Mathews and fourth was Trent Forrester. Others that competed , not in finishing order were Mathew Hurley , Jamie Lee Clee Collins ,Shane Hoogmoed , Joshua Carden on his new bike.
Mathew Bryant is the Division Five State Champion for 2009.
Division Four is getting bigger and growing all the time with eighteen starters , things are looking good for the future.As you would expect getting a maximum out of all these riders and progressing to the final unbeaten was going to be a big ask and it was.Closest was Shane Bentley (15) who dropped a point in heat two , while on his way to grid one in the final.Three riders pushed him hard all the way with a three way tie with Robbie Vella , Braden Makepeace and Austin McDonald all on (14).I can't recall how they separated these three but they all got to start a State Final with the chance of being the Champ.
The race was won by Shane Bentley from Austin McDonald over Robbie Vella and Brayden Makepeace.Other riders to compete in this division, not in finishing order, were Nicole Kinross ,Damien Crawford ,Andrew Wilkie ,Angus Elliot ,Marc Mastrodomenico ,Tiana DeBattista ,Connor Whelan ,Lindsay Jolly ,Billy Bax ,Annabell Blaker ,Angus Freeman ,Braden Clarke ,Plymouth Christian.
Shane Bentley is the Division Four State Champion for 2009.
Division Three, the first of the 26" bikes saw six starters.There was one scratching.Mark Sheldon (15) has stepped up and taken the big step to top performance with three consecutive wins , taking him to grid one in the final with Michael Karpany (14) keeping him honest with a couple of late wins himself.Sarah Kinross (10) was consistent enough to grab grid threeand Gabby Aston (6) just scraped in for grid four.The race was won by Mark Sheldon with some great agressive riding over Michael Karpany , Sarah Kinross and Gabby Aston.Other riders to compete were Lucy Millikin.
Mark Sheldon is the Division Three state Champion for 2009.
Division two saw a dozen riders compete for this title and only one rider went through undefeated to grid one and that was Daniel Bax (16). A dead heat for second between Josh DeBattista (14) and Farren Wills (14) sorted out by the toss of a coin,while grid four went to Dean Jolly (13).Daniel went on to win the final with DeBattista picking up second.Third wet via Dean Jolly and fourth went to Farren Wills.Others to compete, not in finishing order were, Tony Bax ,Jay Walters ,Tyrone Walters .Ben Blaker ,Bobby McMillan ,Scott Kinross ,Anthony Daniels ,Allen Randall.
Daniel Bax is the Division 2 State Champion for 2009.
Over 30's, This division is growing all the time and today had nine starters and many more envious onlookers in this age bracket.Riders that weren't here today were Nigel Greenhalgh, Warren Corbett (inj) and our Mexican visitor Nick Thresher! and Graham Hedger.Anyway the ones that did front had a great time . The addition of another Darren Mathews into the group confused patrons for a while until it was made clear the guy wearing the Jolly Roger was the other one!No-one carried an unbeaten ride into the finals and as it turned out there was a tie for first and second and another tie for third and fourth! Talk about keen!
Somehow they sorted out the grid positions with Rick Jolly (14) Steve Clarke (14) Robert Flemming (12) and Darren Schultz (12).At the end of it all was a win to Robert Flemming over a very exhausted,Rick Jolly won lost the lead within meters of the finish.Third went to steve Clarke over Darren Schultz.Others that competed, not in finishing order were , Rob Matthews ,Andrew Blatchford ,Darren Mathews (skull and cross bones)Andrew Dobie ,Darren Mathews.
Robert Flemming is the Over 30's State Champion for 2009.
Division one , the last for the day, had ten starters , with at least one competitor from every club represented. Some mighty prangs in this lot too!No-one carried a maximum into the final although if Pudney didn't decide to save it for the final, he was the only rider in the position to do so.Ross Priest (13) actually scored top spot and number one grid in the final over Daniel Pudney (12) Grid three went via Cody Chadwick on his home track,which was still a belter and getting better! Was always going to be a hard task while Matt Mathews had been silently doing his thing to grab grid four in a State Final.The final was won by Daniel Pudney over Cody Chadwick , Ross Priest and Matt Mathews.Others that competed were,not in finishing order, Paul White ,Jackie Kinross ,Damian Ffrench .Ryan Edson ,Cameron Crisp and Daniel Thompson.
Daniel Pudney is the Division One State Champion for 2009.
The Cycle Speedway Council President ,Bill Rufus , was called to hand out the trophies to their recipients and thanked everyone for the spectacle and the Salisbury Club for its involvement.Pictures were taken of the champs and their runner-ups and laps of honor were done and so was the titles til next year.
My rider of the meet was also a tie between Mark Sheldon and Jack Norman.
