MARK PLAISTED / BEN PITT WIN FIM OCEANIA SIDECAR TITLE

Feature photo courtesy of Judy Mackay

Mark Plaisted and Ben Pitt added more hardware to their ever growing trophy cabinets when they won the Paintmaster SA FIM Oceania Sidecar Championship at Gillman Speedway on Saturday night, March 9.

In recent seasons they have won the last three Australian Championships and five of the previous six South Australian Championships.

Saturday night was Pitt’s first Oceania title, but the second for Plaisted who won the inaugural championship in 2013/14 with Brian Anthony as passenger.

Plaisted/Pitt, Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox and Trent Headland/April Cottrell were the clear-cut pre-meeting favourites and they ultimately finished 1-2-3 in the title, but not before a few set-backs along the way for Headland and Cottrell.

They started the meeting in the best possible way by picking up $1000 from former SA and NSW Champion David Adams, owner of the meeting sponsor, Paintmaster SA, for the fastest time in a one lap flying start “Dash for Cash”, but things went a little off the pace in a couple of the heats. While Plaisted/Pitt and Treloar/Cox won their first four rides, Headland and Cottrell finished third behind Plaisted/Pitt and Thomas Adams/Seth Pascoe in heat three after the throttle cable came loose while dicing with Adams/Pascoe; and again in heat 15, behind Treloar/Cox and Shane Hudson/Jack Spear, after a wheelstand at the start, to be on 8 points and in danger of missing direct qualification for the final.

Kym Menadue and Shane Dolan were ahead of the duo on the scorecard with 10 points but they were drawn against Plaisted/Pitt and Treloar/Cox in heat 20, and the presumption was they would come third and finish on 11 points, and lose on count-back to Headland/Cottrell if they won heat 19.

Headland/Cottrell did win heat 19, against Shane Rudloff/Scott Morris, Rick Stephens/Nick O’Brien and reserves Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski, but Menadue/Dolan upset expectations by splitting Plaisted/Pitt and Treloar/Cox in heat 20.

So the qualifiers for the final were Plaisted/Pitt 15, Treloar/Cox 13 and Menadue/Dolan 12, with Headland/Cottrell 11 relegated to the semi-final against Shane Hudson/Jack Spear 10, Dean Hobbs/Daniel Low 9 and Mark Mitchell/Tony Carter 9.

Hudson/Spear had only been beaten by Plaisted/Pitt and Treloar/Cox, but lost a further three points in the opening heat of the night when they were excluded for going infield in turn four on the opening lap. Hobbs/Low picked up 7 points from their first three rides before predictably finished fourth behind Treloar/Pitt, Hudson/Spear and Headland/Cottrell in a tough heat 14, and then scored second behind Josh Wells/Corey Blackman in heat 17 to gain the required points for the semi-final spot. Mitchell/Carter gained their 9 points without winning a race but figured in some exciting races during the night, with their race with Wells/Blackman for second place in heat 12 probably the race of the night.

The last chance semi-final is usually an exciting race and Saturday night was no exception. On the first attempt to run the race there was a bingle in turn two and Mitchell fell. In the rerun Headland/Cottrell led all the way with Mitchell/Carter in second place until the third lap when Hudson/Spear hit Mitchell/Carter hard between turns three and four and Mitchell/Carter spun. The red lights came straight on and Hudson/Spear were excluded and the race win awarded to Headland/Cottrell.

The final also needed two starts after Plaisted/Pitt (red) and Treloar/Cox (blue) collided in turn one, but the restart was straight forward as Plaisted/Pitt led all the way from Treloar/Cox, Headland/Cottrell (yellow) and Menadue/Dolan (white).

The loudest round of applause for the night was for injured rider Nate Headland. The 17-year-old, who suffered two broken legs, a torn quad muscle and broken ribs, in a crash at the previous meeting. He received a raucous reception when he did a lap of the track on a vehicle after the trophy presentation. Sadly that will be one of the few laps he’ll do for several years. The programme ran a message from Headland in which he said: “I won’t be making a return to racing for the next 5-6 years. I have a 10mm rod in my left leg and a 12mm rod in my right leg. I have to wait 4 years until I can get the rods out of my femurs, and the rehab of getting the rods taken out will be as long as the rehab for getting them put in. So not certain that I’ll be back racing the sport again any time soon. Thank you to all who have been following my progress and all the messages of love and support I have received.  Also a huge thank you to all who have supported my go fund me page.”