Aussie Title Round 3 Mildura Results

[ficklefan]

Thanks to Ron Malm on the Yahoo sports groups site

 

A final

 

1st Adams

2nd Crump

3rd McGowan

4th Stead

 

B final

 

1st Doyle

2nd Johnston

3rd Lemon

4th Nicholls

Edited January 10, 2007 by ficklefan

[brixham mickey]

Taken from Robins web site.

 

MAGNIFICENT MILDURA WIN FOR LEIGH ADAMS

 

 

MILDURA - January 11, 2007: Defending Australian Champion Leigh Adams was in sparkling form when he took out the third round of the Linddales Labour Hire Australian Motorcycle Speedway Championship Series at Olympic Park, Mildura last night.

 

In sweltering conditions, the home town hero looked the goods from the outset, whilst Championship leader - World Champion Jason Crump - was at his most vulnerable, finishing last in his opening heat.

 

The A-Final was the best of the Championship so far. Adams lined up on the inside gate, Crump on the extreme outside. They flanked Travis McGowan and Simon Stead.

 

The first start saw Crump get away smartly, but McGowan become hooked up with Adams bike and they both went down in turn one. Version two was all about Adams.

 

He got the jump into turn one and skipped away to a two bike length lead. Crump showed why he has been dubbed the "Rottweiler in a racesuit" - hounding Adams for the entire four lap journey.

 

The lock-out crowd were brought to their feet when Crump went deep into the final brace of turns attempting to wrest victory from Adams, but it wasn't to be - the Mildura Marvel took an emotional victory over the World Champ, with McGowan finishing third - his best result of the Series so far. Stead came in for a fourth place, which probably didn't do justice to the night he enjoyed. Just five points separate Crump and Adams with two rounds remaining in the Linddales Championship chase.

 

"This is unbelievable," said a clearly emotional Adams. "We've had a very tough run and really needed to get one over Jason tonight. We're taking it one step at a time and will continue to battle away. I know my way around Gillman pretty well and Mount Gambier will be a bit of a lottery, but we're in there with a fighting chance."

 

Crump knew he may have struggled coming into the event and wasn't too disappointed about finishing as the runner up.

 

"Leigh was pretty desperate to get a win up," said the double World Champion. "I had an opportunity to get him on the final turn, but he would have had to make a mistake. Leigh only makes about three mistakes a year, so I knew that was going to be difficult."

 

McGowan's performance was superb in front of his home crowd and he feels things from here will be much improved.

 

"I struggled a bit on the big tracks so to come here and do so well is very good," he said. "It gives me a great deal of confidence going to Gillman, which is in some ways similar to here. We should be right from here on in."

 

B-Final honours went to Newcastle (NSW) flyer, Jason Doyle. Doyle's ride was brilliant from the outset, getting one over Steven Johnston - who - if other results had've gone his way - would have displaced the World Champion from the A-Final.

 

Doyle himself would be rueing missing his first A-Final berth - getting some extra drive in his fourth heat and rearing up whilst leading cost him a chance at vital points. Points were difficult to come by all night, evidenced by the star-studded first heat, where McGowan upstaged Adams, British Champ Scott Nicholls and Crump.

 

Nicholls - who was once again impressive - finished third in the B, with Mark Lemon coming home fourth.

 

There were a couple of major incidents on a night that was characterised by sensational racing, the most scary being Chris Holder. The Sydney-based youngster who rides for the Isle of Wight in the British Premier League went underneath Crump in heat 13 and came off second best - collecting the wall hard, his bike very nearly clearing the safety fence. Holder damaged his elbow in the incident and was out for the night, but vowed he'd live to fight another day.

 

That incident was only to be backed up by a heavy fall in the next heat from young local, Cory Gathercole. Gathercole crashed heading into turn one and smashed the fence back first. After some initial concern was shown, Gathercole was soon back on his feet and told the crowd he'd be right to "give it another crack."

 

Other surprising results included the performance of Rory Schlein and Troy Batchelor. Schlein entered the event third in the Championship and despite looking sharp in practice, scored just seven points on the night and missed both finals. Batchelor finished the 20 heats on six points and has yet to look comfortable in the Championship.

 

The Linddales Labour Hire travelling troupe now hits the road for the penultimate round of the prestigious tournament to be conducted at Adelaide's Gillman Speedway on Friday night, January 12, with the final round to be held at Borderline Speedway Mount Gambier on Saturday night.

 

Matt Payne

Power Productions