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Speedway by Colin Martin |
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GOLD TROPHY REPORT 10th August at the Norfolk Arena, Saddlebow road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Treloar and Plaisted … Just the Best Ever…
At the third time of asking, Darren Treloar and Justin Plaisted secured the World Champions tag and the FIM Gold Trophy to go along with the Australian Title with a fault less maximum 15 points performance at Saddlebow Road. They had some tough heats and determined opposition to contend with, having to work hard when the gating let them down a little. With rain making the previous days practice / training session impossible, all the crews had a long day at the stadium starting at 10.00am with the hour long practice / training period. Initially the pits bend proved difficult to master as Ronny Parker / Jamie Bree slid gently through the slime on full opposite lock into the barrier but towards the end of the session, the dust began to lift. Everyone looked quick during that session towards the end followed by the two laps from the tapes practice. So the scene was set and everyone was anxious for the first race at 15.00 to begin. Heat one and a very impressive victory for the fast starting Aussie’s Ricky Howse / Adam Commons as they finished well clear of Rod and Gareth Winterburn, Steve Smith / Carl Pugh and, surprisingly in fourth spot, a troubled Scott Christopher / Trent Koppe. Mark Cossar took heat two from a very quick Roel Liemburg / Dave Williams, Paul Whitelam / Alan Elliott and Craig Cheatham / Dave Hogan. Darrin Treloar / Justin Plaisted rolled out for a tough heat three, and their first win, from the defending champions Mick Headland / Paul Waters whose initially put Treloar under pressure before the Aussie Champions pulled clear from Headland, Ivor Matthews / Rick McAuley from Mick Cave / Ben Goddard. First perplexing decision by the steward in the tower came in heat four
when Gary Jackson / Carl Blyth spun and stalled on the second lap with
Dave Bottrell / Ben Pitt throwing the bike sideways, as Dave described
later,‘To avoid a big crash ’cos we didn’t want to
hurt anyone’. Jackson expected to be excluded but the steward also
threw Bottrell out as well. Heat 6 brought another incident again involving Jacko with Headland. Going down the back straight with Mick on the outside line, Jackson’s bike lifted and veered onto the infield. ‘I felt a big jolt from the back, the bike turned right and then lifted, sending us onto the infield. My first thoughts were this is going to hurt’ said Gary. The stewards clearly saw the incident and excluded the current World Champions for dangerous riding, despite their protest to the official. Heat 7 saw three outfits clash on turn one, the second time around.
An accident that ended Steve Smith and Roel Liemburg’s further
participation in the meeting with their respective passengers, Carl Pugh
and Dave Williams being taken to hospital. Despite a third place first time out and riding with broken ribs, Ivor Matthews / Rick McAuley won heat eight and won again in heat 10, they looked a good bet for a podium place. However, their fortunes changed, no points from heat 13 followed by exclusion in heat 19. A problem with the ignition cutout connection that worked, and then didn’t work was the diagnosed Kawasaki problem. Meanwhile, the Australian challenge gathered momentum with Treloar and Plaisted going though their remaining heats winning each time. Ricky Howse and Adam Commons quietly got on with their work, beaten in their second outing by Bottrell, then by Treloar in heat 9, the Broken Hill boys won heats 13 and 17 to finish on 13 points. They could only sit it out in the pits to see what the other could do. Despite the setback in their opening heat, Bottrell and Pitt began to acquire significant points in heats 5, 11, 13 and 19 to finish with 10. Mick Headland / Paul Waters gathered their composure to win races 12 and 15, finishing on 8 points despite spinning out in heat 17. Fellow countrymen, Scott Christopher / Trent Koppe, did not enjoy a good meeting with chain and fuel pumps issues restricting the former Gold Trophy holders score to just four points on the Honda CBR 1000 04. With the Aussies now sitting pretty in the point’s table, who was going to lead the Brits fight back? Jacko won two heats on the trot coupled with two second places, he and
Carl finished on an equal ten points with Dave Bottrell. Just like Howse and Commons, the first time on shale father and son duo, Rod and Gareth Winterburn, certainly raised an eyebrow or two.’ We only bought the bike to do this meeting’ said Rod ‘ and may well sell the bike afterwards, as we’ve no future plans to ride again on speedway this year’ But if prizes were given for sheer determination, then the Winterburn’s would have won. Their policy was simple, don’t finish last and keep trying until
the chequered flag drops. A little out of shape at times, the Yorkshire
based Northern Invaders scored steadily until heat 18 when they won comfortably
from Ronny Parker and Mick Cave. So with all the heats completed Darrin Treloar / Justin Plaisted had finally completed their mission and the magnificent Gold Trophy was theirs to take back to Sydney. Ricky Howse and Adam Commons finished as runners up but third place required a run off between Jackson and Bottrell. Taking the outside gate after Jackson elected to go from gate two, Bottrell and Pitt gated perfectly to lead but as hard as they tried Jackson and Blyth had to settle for fourth in the end. Heat Results: * Please note that no heat times were announced at the meeting. Heat 1: Heat 2: Heat 3: Heat 4: Heat 5: Heat 6: Heat 7: Heat 8: Heat 9: Heat 10: Heat 11: Heat 12:
Heat 13: Heat 14: Heat 15: Heat 16: Heat 17: Heat 18: Heat 19: Heat 20: 3rd Place Run Off: FIM Official Track Racing Results: 1: Darrin Treloar / Justin Plaisted: 15 points
After the action, they said: Darrin Treloar & Justin Plaisted; World # 1 and 2008 Gold Trophy Winners: ‘Taken 23 years to do but now we’ve won it. I’ve won a lot in my racing career but this is looking like the pinnacle of the sport. I’m over the moon. Had no doubts in the last heat but it was a tough race with Scott and Jacko out there. We felt confident on track and had to come from behind to win a few times. Got a couple of years left yet and another Aussie title to get as we equaled Dennis Nash’s record and also three in a row like the O’Briens and Phil McCurtayne, so I’m pleased to have equaled that record and feel I’m riding as well as I’ve ever done with Justin. I’d like to leave the sport setting records for others to try and beat, everyone knows what has been achieved and what I’ve done for the sport. Not saying the records won’t be beaten but it is testament to all the time and effort that has been put in over the years But the Aussie title record has got to be set’. Ricky Howse and Adam Commons: World # 2: ‘We’re really stoked about today! Excellent! Really good track which suited our bike down to the ground, a little slick but we were gating well and had a good day. Would have like to have taken a point from one person but no, it was good. Next year, we would like to be back but we’ll have to qualify back home which is a lot harder than here but we’ll give it a go’ Dave Bottrell and Ben Pitt: World # 3: ‘Real mixed emotions about today, I suppose. We had a rough start but we got lucky as people began to drop points. So to be on the podium with ten points isn’t bad considering the bad decision in our first race as Gary’s bike stopped, threw the bike sideways to avoid a big accident, for some reason I was put out! In the run off, I didn’t really look back. The track was bit stoney and we chased the set up, every time we changed something the track changed again, so we tried something different and made the motor sing for the last couple of heats. Once on the pole line nobody was going to get by on the outside’ Gary Jackson and Carl Blyth: World # 4: ‘Very pleased with what’s been achieved today but just considering
what could have been.
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