Australian Longtrack Title

[enniskillen]

report by australian commentator Glenn Russell

 

Young Sydney Starlet Chris Holder added another Title to his quickly

expanding resume, when he won the Australian 500cc Long Track title at

Bathurst Showground on Saturday Night.

 

Holder won the final at the second attempt to stage it, defeating Sydney's

Lee Herne, and Mildura's Cory Gathercole to win his first Australian Senior

title, and give him the unusual double of Australian U/21 Speedway Champion

and Australian Long Track Champion in the same year.

 

Holder was involved in a ding dong tussle with Herne who had led from the

start in the first staging, before the race was brought to a halt, after

Daniel Mason fell at the start of lap 3. With Luke Gough laying down his

machine to avoid the fallen Mason, it left the steward with little

alternative but to stop the race. Both Gough and Mason didn't restart in

the final, nor did Quentin Byrne, which left just nine riders in the final.

 

In the re-run, Holder from the middle of the grid, made a lightning start,

and just went further and further away throughout the course of the race.

 

Pre race favorite and leading qualifier with an unbeaten score of 75

points, was Canberra rider Rodney McDonald, but he was strangely out of

sorts in both attempts to run the final, and ended up finishing in 5th

place, after never looking likely to be beaten in any of his qualifying heats.

 

Holder had earlier finished third in the 125cc Final behind Cowra'a Luke

Johnson, and Bathurst's Scott Brown, after looking likely to challenge in

the middle of the race. Holder's engine temporarily gave up the ghost

before firing back into life, moving him back to 6th place, before getting

back into 3rd place during the latter stages of the race.

 

In other finals, Josh Waters from Mildura was the victor in the 250cc 4

Stroke final, defeating Sydney Speedway rider Lewis Myers, and impressive

young rider from Griffith Tom Armstrong.

 

In the 500cc FTX Championship final Wyalong's Darren Herrick added another

title to his long list of victories defeating Jody Perry of Gunnedah who

has recently returned from injury, and the consistent Michael Kirkness from

Port Macquarie.

 

Luke Gough was an impressive winner of the up to 450cc 4 Stroke Final,

defeating local Bathurst rider Ben Grabham, and Newcastle's Paul Caslick.

 

Herrick made it a double by winning his favorite event the 250cc 2 Stroke

Championship final, from Luke Johnson with Josh Waters in third.

 

Barry and Ernie Raffin were the best on show in the 1100cc Dirt Track

Sidecar Championship final, defeating Brad Banks and Ian Hamilton, and

Aaron Murnane and Robert Taggert.

 

Ben Grabham made up for an earlier disappointment when he won the 450cc 4

Stroke Final, defeating Paul Caslick and Townsville's Jarrod Koppe. Koppe

was shooting for 3 titles in a row in this class and put up a great effort,

but was not quite able to pass the experienced pair up front.

 

The final event of the night proved to be a long drawn out affair, when in

the 1100cc Long Track Sidecar Final, a spectacular accident involving three

combinations, brought proceedings to a halt. Tamworth legend Jim-Bob Turner

hit the fence in the back straight attempting an outside pass on the

leaders Darrin Treloar and Russell Mitchell. Turner bounced off the fence

into the path of following riders, Steve Houston and Greg McKee, who took

evasive action by heading infield. Houston narrowly missing a padded light

pole on the inside of the track, while McKee flipped after getting on the

grass. There was a long delay as three ambulances treated the fallen

riders, and only Houston and his passenger Bryan Young were able to restart.

 

When the race got back under way close to an hour later, Treloar and his

passenger Justin Plaistead proved their class defeating Mitchell and Justin

Winchester, with Houston and Young in third.

 

No news as yet on the injuries sustained by the Turner and McKee

combinations, but when I receive more information I will gladly pass it on.

 

In the support classes that were decided on heat points rather than finals,

Alan Jones won another "Post Classic" event where man and machine are both

over 30 years old, defeating Trevor Baker and Chris Potts. Jones however

could have lost the event as an engine problem on the last lap of the last

race saw him having to nurse his bike home in 3rd place when he was

leading. 5th place would have seen him lose the event.

 

Rodney Anderson was an impressive winner of the Harley/British Twin

Challenge, defeating former dirt track sidecar star Anthony Davies, and

Chris Potts.

 

There was also some impressive racing in the 3 junior classes, Matthew

Davies (son of Anthony) quite impressive in the 65cc class, as was Alex

Davies (son of Stephen) in the 85cc class. Brodie Waters too good for the

field in the 125cc class and, the only unbeaten junior on the night, Sam

Masters in the 250cc 4-stroke class.

 

All in all a pretty fair night's racing on a track where many riders

commented at presentation just how good a track it is to ride.

 

On behalf of my co-commentator Peter Baker and myself, I would like to

thank the Panorama club for all their support during the event. A number of

very competent people behind the scenes made our job of calling the event

very easy. The way the event is run and the track is presented for racing

are a credit to the club, and the praise you have received from many of the

riders is quite justified.

Edited November 6, 2005 by enniskillen

[Greg]

well done chris hope to see him in the uk in 2005 in speedway and grasstrack i hope