TEAM PLAISTED AND PITT GO FOR THE HAT TRICK AT PINJAR

By: Mark Neale.

Mark Plaisted and passenger Ben Pitt are aiming to join a select few speedway competitors at Pinjar Park Speedway, Western Australia this Sunday night (April 9) with a title winning hat-trick.

The South Australian/Victorian team from Gawler Belt and Redcliffs are aiming to become only the third team to win three Australian Sidecar Championships in a row joining Glenn and Nathan O’Brien(2000,01 & 02) and Darrin Treloar/Justin Plaisted (2006,07 & 08) to win a hat trick of titles.

The souvenir programme fans buy every year at the Aussie title show the legendary Victorian Jimmy Davies won four titles in a row in the late forties-early fifties (1948 to 51) with no event being held in 1949 and two titles being run in 1947 and 1950

New South Wales Phil McCurtayne won three in a row (1984,85 & 86) and Darrin Treloar (2012,13 & 14) again to have won three titles in as many years with different passengers.Treloar is the only competitor to win a hat trick of title’s twice.

It will be the sixth time the Australian Sidecar Championship has been held in Western Australia – four at Perth’s Claremont Speedway (1977, 81, 88 and 98) and once at Bibra Lake (2004).

Both venues have now closed. The 1988 title saw locals fill the first three placings and the 1998 saw the first three placings stripped of their results following a MA tribunal meeting in September later that year.

It will be the first time the 330 metre Pinjar Park Motorcycle Speedway circuit in Neerabup in Perth’s northern suburbs have held the event which they have been planning for the last few years.

Plaisted and Pitt, who have been together as a team for eight seasons, have only competed in four meetings this season but have won all four – their fourth South Australian Sidecar Championship in five years, the Gillman title as well as winning both meetings at Pinjar Park leading up to the title – the King of Pinjar event and the prestigious Jeff Gittus Memorial.

Mark said: “We learnt a lot about the track in the two meetings. Three in a row is the goal, can’t wait for Sunday night.”

Mark and Ben will have one bike in the West-Stringer Race Frame fitted with a Yamaha R1 engine.

They will face stiff opposition from eleven times Australian Champion Darrin Treloar/Blake Cox (aiming for their fourth title as a team), nine times Victorian Champion Warren Monson/Andrew Summerhayes, who have only ridden one meeting this season, Mick Headland and stand in passenger Troy Davies (replacing Brenton Kerr who has had an Achilles tendon operation).

All four of these teams have made the final the last two years. Monson (three times) and Headland (twice) have been runner up in previous titles and they are aiming to go one step further.

Treloar/Cox have had a quite season to date and they will have a brand new R1 engine fitted into their trusty frame which they hope they will ride to victory on Sunday night.

Darrin said: “It’s along way to Perth. Blake, my passenger and I, are not making the trip over there just to make up the numbers. Winning another title has been our focus for 2023 despite not having our normal programme of events this season. We believe we are well prepared and are in with a good chance.”

Reigning Western Australian Champion Darren Nash/Ash Shield will have the large crowd on their side. This will be their last meeting on a speedway circuit as they have announced their retirement from the sport.

Darren, who has won three WA titles and he has been placed third in two previous national titles, will concentrate on road racing after Sunday night.

Darren explained: “The 2023 Australian Sidecar Championship will be my final Speedway sidecar race, as I intend to focus on our road racing exploits. We may do a few selected speedway events in the future, who knows?”

Darren and Ash are the current WA Speedway and road racing Sidecar champions.

Reigning Queensland Champions Tyler Moon/Adam Lovell, Broken Hill teenagers Max Howse/Riley Commons and New South Wales titleholder Jack Summerling/Nathan McFadden make up the top eight  teams who are seeded directly through to the final night on Sunday by Motorcycling Australia, (the sport’s governing body). On Saturday night sixteen teams will do battle over twenty heats with the top eight progressing through to the decider.

Much travelled North Queenslander Brodie Cohen and South Australian passenger Jesse Headland, New South Wales’ Shane Hudson/Adam Constable have based themselves in WA leading up to the title to get valuable track time and will face stiff opposition in the qualifier from locals Reece Liptrott/Jesse Thomas, Jack Fewster/Jonah Sita and father/son team of Jeff and Daniel Bishop. Two youngsters forging a name for themselves in senior Speedway are third generation riders Jake Treloar/Eli Wright and first year talented SA team of Nate Headland/Jaxon Ryaner who will be aiming to qualify for the Sunday final.

The field for the qualifier is one of the toughest ever selected by MA and trying to predict who qualifies for the 2023 Australian Speedway Sidecar championship is all but impossible