JUSTIN PLAISTED TO DEFEND BOB WHITE CUP

Former Australian Champion Justin Plaisted returns to Adelaide’s Gillman Speedway this Saturday night (15 March) and despite a lengthy lay-off with a leg injury, he will start favourite to win the annual Bob White Sidecar Cup.

Plaisted and passenger Damian Egan came from behind to win a thrilling final last season, but Justin will have Brian Anthony on the Sidecar for his Cup defence as Egan will be riding with Shane Rudloff.

Plaisted’s main challengers are likely to come from current FIM Oceania Championship #4 Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan, Rick Stephens/Nick O’Brien and Max Howse/Riley Commons, who finished second and third respectively in the NSW Championship a fortnight ago, former Victorian Champion Byren Gates/Michael O’Loughlin and Shane Rudloff/Damian Egan.

Although they all seem to have equal status as likely finalists, this is an event Stephens and O’Brien have done particularly well in, having reached the final in four of the six Cup events held so far. Rudloff, Gates and Howse are also former finalists, while Howse and Commons have been one of the form teams, reaching the final in four of the trophy events at Gillman this season.

Josh Pascoe is also back this week with Ayrton Canning as passenger, replacing the injured Greg Black.

Malcolm German/Cameron White and Aaron Silvy/Jaron Silvy have also shown some decent form recently reaching the final (along with Rudloff/Egan) in the Bowes Family Cup last month.

As well as the Bob White Cup, the meeting is also the last of the selected fixtures for the season long point score, which is currently led by Brian Silvy and Glen Zaworski. A decent showing by the duo should seal the pointscore bonus money. Eight points will be enough but that won’t be easy against Saturday night’s line-up, so the meeting promises some close racing for every point, not just the wins.

There will also be support events for 500cc Solos, Flat Track Solos, Classic Sidecars, 250cc and 125cc Junior Solos. This will be the last appearance for the 500cc and Flat Track Solos this season as regulations don’t allow them to be support events for the FIM Oceania Sidecar Championship which will be the final meeting of the season on March 29.

Gates open at 4pm and racing starts at 7pm.

For those that can’t attend, the meeting will be livestreamed through the website link [https://www.spacequakesports.com/ppv] for a cost of $25. As always this is the only official livestreaming link. Any others touted on facebook sites are scams and should be ignored.