| From Worldspeedway.com Cycle Speedway Firstly ,once again ,I failed to materialise at a championship to cover it for CSN , but , thanks to the sterling efforts of Kathryn Thompson from the Murraylands club , I can now complile a report.The reason for my absence, grandson ,Plymouth , had a prior arranged football match to play in ,which didn't leave enough time to get to the Murraylands track.Scratched his brother Anthony too!They lost but he kicked 3-2. Let me tell you a little about this championship,this Community Open Championship is held annually , thanks to the magnificent sponsorship by various business in the area and people in general from the community that provide the top trophies that were won on the day.For which the club is forever grateful. All meetings need voullenteers to be able to put on any meet and championships are no different , especially when you have the dreaded flu effecting so many people it really makes it hard on the remaining crew,but, like all country people they went ahead and put on a championship to be remembered for all the right reasons. There was a change to the menu on the program to enable riders who race 26" bikes , that may not be up to other riders standards but because of ages have to ride against the superior riders , this leads to lower numbers competing because there is little or no hope of winning. The answer was simple according to the Murraylands club , and I can see this being popular at other clubs too,by having a division 1 for riders aged 18-30 and a Open division for all or any 26"rider who thinks they may be able to cut the mustard in.Basically it gives the riders in that age group who are more evenly matched a chance of standing on a podium. One rider who wont be doing much standing at all is Jackie Kinross who has broken a toe at the Findon track on Friday night , after nominating , simply because of this new div 1.She was dissapointed after being so excited at being able to compete on a more even level .Still theres always next-time,get well Jackie! Now for some racing! First up were the Tiny Tots ,sponsored by Bridge Trophies and Partyware ,and six of these little champs braved the weather and got blown backwards on the backstraight (not really but it was a bit strong all the same)and they were. Kiara Bailey, Sophie Allchurch ,Mikhyila Lillyman , Brock Lillyman , Nathan White , Cody Woite and Sophie Allchurch , they all recieved a little trophy for their efforts. Division seven ,sponsored by Brooks Cycles ,had nine starters and the six that made it to the final , after Jaden Beames fell and took no further part in racing after race one, were, Michael Ratcliff (unbeaten)tied on (13) were Ryan Lee and Mathew Snowden ,who tossed for grids, and on (11) Ethan Raynel. On (10) was Ryan Buchanan followed by Grant Harvie and Ryan Allchurch after a ride-off for grids 5-6. The winner was Michael Ratcliff , whos having a purple patch,followed by Ethan Raynel , Mathew Snowden and Ryan Lee. fifth was Ryan Buchanan and sixth went to Grant Harvie. Division six,sponsored by George Seibert , had only four starters after a scratching. Travelling along very nicely and a unbeaten(20) into the final went Cameron Zadow ahead of Jaxon Beams on (15). Next was Jake Kerley on (10) and Brittany Bailey on (4). That is precisely the order they finished the final in. Division five , sponsored by Adelaide Hills Transport , saw elleven riders nominate but only one scratched and that was my grandson , Plymouth.six of these fought their way to the final and they were , Shane Bentley (unbeaten 16) followed closely by Shayne Hoogmoed on (15) next came Harry Allchurch on (12) followed by Jake Mathews on (11).The last two riders to make the final were , Jayden Lee on (8) and Molly McDermott crisp on (6). The win went to Shane Bentley over Shayne Hoogmoed , Harry Allchurch and Jayden Lee. Its good to see the Murraylands riders competing well and figuring in the results and after it was all done and dusted, they had 20 out of 30 riders get a podium , which is outstanding cosidering some of these riders have never had any competition experience before today.You have to delve way back into the archives to 2002 to get a haul of 11 trophies prior to this! To put it into perspective there were three firsts , three seconds , four thirds , six fourths and four Tinytots.Well done and congratulations! Division four ,sponsored by Grandisons , which had seven starters with only six to go through to the final.One was going to miss the final and it takes four heats to find out who that was.The six that made it to the final , of which only four stand on the podium , were top qualifier , local boy , Mark Sheldon (unbeaten 16) . Marks coming on in leaps and bounds and is a rider to watch for the future. Second qualifier was that girl again, Nicole Kinross on (15) grid three went to another local Jarryd Lillyman (13) four went to Damien Crawford , five belonged to Annabell blaker (9) and the last spot , out wide, saw Kimberly Buchanan (7) snatch it by one point. This division was won by Mark Sheldon from Nicole Kinross over Jarryd Lillyman and Damien Crawford. Division three , sponsored by Richard Elliott Electrical , saw eight nominate and five start the comp.So once again only one rider was going to miss out.The division was won by Salisbury rider Jay Walters over team-mate Dean Jolly.Ill bet Sarah Kinross was pretty happy picking up third spot over her brother , Scott , in the final. Division two sponsored by Murray Heating and Cooling , had six nominate and six starters , with the division decided on total points. Just looking through the riders on the program , there were a few handy riders in there and it could have gone any way but the one who had the most ponts on the day was , Matt Mathews , who only dropped a single point to Bobby McMillan. Third saw , Salisbury rider, Tyrone Walters slot himself in , in front of Nathan Pope. Division one (the new division on the day) was sponsored by Newell Communications and had four nominations but only three starters with Jackie Kinross sporting that broken toe!The first ever winners saw a trifecta going to the local club , I imagine this would be a first for the Murraylands club so well done and congratulations. The winner was Brad Thompson over Bradley Ballard and Peter Siebert. Open,sponsored by Natural Step N Stones , had seven starters for a six berth final and let me tell you this looked the goods on paper and there would have been some top racing amongst these riders. Notable absentees ,Pudney ,the Gentles , Greenhalgh and Priest ! Winding their way to the final were on grid one , were four riders all qualifying on (12) each were , in no particular order , Paul White , Robert Fitzpatrick , Cameron Crisp and Cody Chadwick. I can only imagine coins being flipped for grid positions and youd think yourself pretty stiff to end up in four after tying for first! In grid five only a point off the pace was Joel Chadwick. Slot six went to , local hope , Daniel Thompson.A big win went to Robert Fitzpatrick over Daniel Thompson , Cody Chadwick and Joel Chadwick. Over 30's, sponsored by , Wise crash Repairs , decided on total points. Five riders started this division and if you think these guys aren't as serious at their racing as the younger blokes , then cop a load of this! When the Thompsons arrived at the track around 9.15am , there was a silver van parked at the track , where spectators usually park , around the track on the back straight.They thought someone wanted to reserve a good spot and wandered off to return later when the racing starts.Son Daniel informed that the van was there earlier , when he drove past the track at 8.30am. They went about the business of setting up the track for the meet , things like running out the rubbish bins around the track , setting up and testing the P.A. system ,reddying the B.B.Q. watering the track etc,etc! All this carrying on and more and it wasn't discovered that there was anyone in the van until 11.30am. when John hill , a Salisbury over 30's rider emerged and signed in to race! Now John wont mind me saying this , simply Johns well past the over 30 qualifying age for this division , actually around 50ish! He's a Security guard and worked the previous night , knocking off at 6am and driving straight to the Murraylands track , hopped in the back for a bit of kip with his bike and ready to race! THATS dedication! Back to the racing , As mentioned earlier ,the positions are selected by total points and the guy who went through undeafeated............you guessed it ,John Hill on (20) over Darren Mathews (15) Mick Lillyman on (8) and Chris Bailey on (6). As I also mentioned earlier , this was a meeting to be remembered and that was because so many first for the Murraylands Club on the day with a huge 30 riders nominating and competing , and taking 20 trophies as well , again a new record ! Congratulations to the Murraylands club all round as they suffered with ill voullenteers and covered it well , not to forget the announcer who was also suffering the effects of the flu, just what an announcer needs....a sore throat! We missed out on their world famous burgers , let me tell you that wont happen again! © Copyright Worldspeedway.com |
