Australian 500cc Solo Championship Updates Rd 1

[Guest lucious artorius castas]

report forwarded from GLENN RUSSELL (many thanks GR)

 

Gosford Speedway on the N.S.W Central Coast staged meeting number 2 of the

2004/5 season with the running of the first round of the Australian Solo

Championship.

 

After an engine failure in his second ride classy Victorian Leigh won the A

Final after being the equal second top qualifier on 12 points with West

Aussie Steve Johnston. Johnno who was placed second in the A Final provided

a lot of the thrills during the meeting with some superb overtakes, one on

Charlie Gjedde in particular being quite breath taking.

 

Third place in the A Final was leading qualifier Jason Lyons, who rode a

steady meeting to score 13 points from his 5 rides, but in my view it was a

surprising decision to select gate three when he had first choice of gates

for the final.

 

4th place was Victorian Champion Travis McGowan who like Lyons was steady

and consistent throughout the meeting, but a 3rd place in his last ride

left him as the 4th qualifier with 11 points, when a win would have given

him a much better choice of gates.

 

The meeting got off to a slow start as many riders struggled with a track

they viewed as patchy and inconsistent. There were falls galore in the

first two heats before referee Gavin Willson decided to scrape most of the

dirt away from the inside line, and from then on the racing got better and

better, particularly in heats involving Johnno.

 

In the 30 odd years I have been following speedway I have never seen all

four riders in a heat, fail to complete a lap for varying reasons, but it

happened in heat 1, when Mark Lemon was deemed to be the primary cause of

the fall from Ashley Jones on the pit corner. Cameron Woodward was then

excluded for tape breaking and replaced by reserve Chris Holder. Adam

Shields blew a valve while on the starting line and withdrew, while in the

final attempt Jones hit the fence pretty hard in the main straight and took

no further part in the meeting. Holder was awarded the race after just

completing one lap.

 

In the second race Young Englishman Adam Allott hit the fence in the second

corner and also took no further part in the meeting, injuring his shoulder

and ribs before being taken away by ambulance.

 

I also think Dane Charlie Gjedde deserves and honorable mention for some

terrific scraps with the local stars, just missing a spot in the A Final,

after dropping points in heat 18 that might have seen him take Adams' spot

in the final. Gjedde had never seen the track before and he was a worthy

addition to the field.

 

One of the more notable spectators in attendance was former Australian

Cricket Captain Steve Waugh who brought his son Austin and some family

friends to the meeting. It was a pleasure to catch up with Steve again

after being involved with him in his junior cricket days with Panania RSL,

and he kindly consented to a quick interview while the track was being

repaired after the carnage in the early heats. He also spent some time in

the latter stages of the meeting on the infield.

 

Heat Details

 

1) Chris Holder (Res), Ashley Jones (fell exc), Adam Shields (ef), Cameron

Woodward (exc tapes), Mark Lemon (exc) NTT

2) Leigh Adams, Steve Johnston, Rory Schlein, Adam Allott (fell exc) 58.20

3) Travis McGowan, Charlie Gjedde, Troy Batchelor, Matthew Wethers (ef) 60.41

4) Jason Lyons, Kevin Doolan, Chris Ferguson, Craig Watson (ef) 58.85

5) Gjedde, Shields, Doolan, Schlein 59.57

6) Wethers, Woodward, Ferguson, Jaye Stevens (Res), Allott (ns) 61.64

7) McGowan, Watson, C Holder (Res), Adams (ef) Jones (ns) 61.08

8) Johnston, Lyons, Lemon, Batchelor 59.48

9) Lyons, Shields, McGowan, J Stevens (Res), Allott (ns) 60.50

10) Watson, Woodward, Batchelor, Schlein (fell) 60.65

11) Johnston, Gjedde, C Holder (Res), Woodward, Jones (ns) 60.72

12) Adams, Lemon, Doolan, Wethers 59.67

13) Adams, Shields, Batchelor, Ferguson (fell) 59.92

14) McGowan, Johnston, Doolan, Woodward 61.05

15) Lyons, Schlein, Wethers, C Holder (ef), Jones (ns) 60.01

16) Lemon, Gjedde, Watson, J Stevens, Allott (ns) 60.12

17) Shields, Johnston, Watson, Wethers 60.75

18) Adams, Lyons, Gjedde, Woodward 59.83

19) Batchelor, Doolan, C Holder J Stevens (fell exc), Jones (ns), Allott

(ns) 61.62

20) Lemon, Schlein, McGowan, Ferguson 60.83

 

B Final

Lemon (White), Watson (Yellow), Shields (Red), Gjedde (Blue) 60.68

A Final

Adams (Blue), Johnston (Red), Lyons (White), McGowan (Yellow) 59.99

 

 

Support Races

1) Jason Doyle, Jay Herne, James Holder 60.89

2) Jason Doyle, Jay Herne, Korey Williams (fell rem), James Holder (fell

exc) 61.39

3) Jason Doyle, Jay Herne, Korey Williams (fell exc) 61.44

4) Jason Doyle, Korey Williams 61.50

 

The next round of the Australian Final will be at Newcastle on Saturday

January 1st. I will not be in attendance so anyone who wishes to provide a

report it will be welcomed by me.

 

My next meeting is the Australian U/16 championships at Somersby tonight.

 

As I am not at work at present I might duck in tomorrow and provide a report.

 

Next meeting at Gosford is January 12th, the Mick Poole Open, when 2004

World Champion Jason Crump will blast around the venue once again.

 

Regards Glenn Russell

[Dekker 239]

Do the A and B final score points which count towards the riders totals?

[Bryn 413]

Do the A and B final score points which count towards the riders totals?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

No Dekks...read Lunchy's earlier posting...finishing orders in A & B Finals determine final positions 1 to 8

 

"Series Points" in each round awarded in respect of final overall finishing position in each meeting and those points are:

 

 

 

1st. 20

2nd. 18

3rd. 17

4th. 16

5th. 15

6th. 14

7th. 13

8th. 12

9th. 11

10th. 10

11th. 9

12th. 7

13th. 6

14th. 4

15th. 3

16th. 2

 

 

Overall winner on "series points" after the four rounds takes the title.

 

Now also up for grabs is a brand new complete Jawa bike supplied by my old (well not SO old!) mate Matt Jones of MJM Speedway Spares BUT it cannot be won by any GP rider (tough luck Leigh!) or any non-Auusie licence holder which rules out Charlie G and AA.

 

Now looking forward to Saturday's 2nd leg at Newcastle.

[Silver Bee 57]

Well done trav and charlie. Must have been a track where Trav could screw it on round the outside. Good effort by charlie and I hope he does well later on in the series.

[lolly 0]

Well done Steve Johnston

[Guest SwineTown]

I think that it speaks volumes about the kind of rider Mr Gjedde is that he is in Oz riding the open. when it went to sh!te in '04 up in Manchester and the old geezers pretending to be Robins were moaning in the pits about the track, Charlie was chomping at the bit and fully up for it. Those who dont see why Rosco has patience with Olly may not know that he was exactly the same for the last SIX YEARS.

 

I hope Leigh nails another aussie final but it is a shame that there is no rematch with Ryan and no Jason.

Edited December 30, 2004 by SwineTown

[Guest lucious artorius castas]

Yeah i think having Charlie was not a bad thing now i guess as a few of us werent too crash hot on the idea of overseas riders being brought into the National Championships unless they were anything but heat leader Elite League material or above . But perhaps now a precedent has been set by inviting Charlie "Cheddar" and Allott. Maybe now it will attract a better class of international rider to bolster the ranks and get the much needed bums in seats considering if none of our top 3 want to ride in it. Its been mentioned by a well known speedway person out here that a certain speedway "magnate" had approached Hancock , Rickko and Rune and apparently on the cusp of signing 2 of them but it fell thru at the last moment for reasons unknown. Now that would of been a real coup to get Herb or Tony out for what might have been there swan song out here. I am hoping we can entice Gollob one more time. He is outside of Rickko and Wigg the most exciting O/S rider i have seen at Gosford but that was back in the early 90's.............No worries lets hope that all Australian G.P. riders are represented next year in the national titles with a potential 05 Aussie u 21 world champ as well as maybe a top G.P. rider or 2.......now that would well worth the price of admission...........Cheers

[Guest Sir Lunchalot]

I know what you mean about inviting overseas riders Anth but on balance at the present stage I think I am in favour of it. I know the arguments that it is depriving an Oz lad the chance of a ride but to be fair at Gosford the gap between number 1 Leigh Adams and number 16 Chris Ferguson was enormous. Chris is a nice lad and all that but he just isn't up to it at the present stage in his career. Until we can get a reasonable quality field right down to number 16 then I'm in favour of improving the overall quality of the field with overseas riders.

 

I also wonder if Jason Crump and Ryan Sullivan saw Hancock, Rickardsson, and Gollob (for example) line up in the Oz titles then they might have a change of heart and think "I'm not letting an outsider pinch the Oz title in my backyard" and decide to compete ?

[Aussie 0]

I know what you mean about inviting overseas riders Anth but on balance at the present stage I think I am in favour of it. I know the arguments that it is depriving an Oz lad the chance of a ride but to be fair at Gosford the gap between number 1 Leigh Adams and number 16 Chris Ferguson was enormous. Chris is a nice lad and all that but he just isn't up to it at the present stage in his career. Until we can get a reasonable quality field right down to number 16 then I'm in favour of improving the overall quality of the field with overseas riders.

 

I also wonder if Jason Crump and Ryan Sullivan saw Hancock, Rickardsson, and Gollob (for example) line up in the Oz titles then they might have a change of heart and think "I'm not letting an outsider pinch the Oz title in my backyard" and decide to compete ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Aussie 0]

I know what you mean about inviting overseas riders Anth but on balance at the present stage I think I am in favour of it. I know the arguments that it is depriving an Oz lad the chance of a ride but to be fair at Gosford the gap between number 1 Leigh Adams and number 16 Chris Ferguson was enormous. Chris is a nice lad and all that but he just isn't up to it at the present stage in his career. Until we can get a reasonable quality field right down to number 16 then I'm in favour of improving the overall quality of the field with overseas riders.

 

I also wonder if Jason Crump and Ryan Sullivan saw Hancock, Rickardsson, and Gollob (for example) line up in the Oz titles then they might have a change of heart and think "I'm not letting an outsider pinch the Oz title in my backyard" and decide to compete ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Bring back where you have to qualify for the World Championship through your National Championship and then you might see the top riders compete. Well done Leigh ( Mr Reliable)

[Guest lucious artorius castas]

I think there is pros and cons in all the facets of the arguments here. I agree with perhaps what "Aussie" said and also now! that it may be good to have a couple of overseas riders but my concern here is the actual standard of rider being brought over to fill one of these places. I am in know doubt that Adam is a good upcoming young British rider but his results out here thus far argue against his inclusion as other young Aussie riders with the runs under the belt thus far this summer would rate a better prospect of inclusion in the national titles lineups. But like i said before that perhaps with the inclusion of Allott and Charlie then a precedent maybe now set that will see in the next couple of years overseas riders of a higher calibre being enticed to come out. Anyway there will be debates going on and off for ages but we will be all still trackside seeing them go around regardless cause we luvvvv the sport..............No Problemo

[SCB 0]

To look at the Adam Allott, shoud he should he not thing another way. Chris Ferguson, Karlis Ezergailis, Corey Blackman, Lee Herne, Christian Henry, Sam Martin, Ben Powell, Scott James et al, should they or should they not have been allowed to ride in the Conference League? Should Aussies be allowed into our league on 4 and 7 compared to our EU counterparts on 5 and 8? Strictly speaking, an EU rider has more right to ride in the CL and on a 4/7 than and Aussie.

 

Surely a case of "I'll scratch your bakc you scratch mine"? After all, I beliebe thats how the Aussies first got the lower average, by having the young GB riders over there.

 

BTW, anyone know if an Aus vs GB U21 series is likely to happen again? Even a full international (not likely I guess as Crump and Sully can't be bothered with the Aus titles, for various reasons).

Edited January 1, 2005 by SCB

[Guest lucious artorius castas]

Yeahhhhhhhhhhh one of ya best Sean