Gilman Speedway, South Australia, 17th February
South Australian and Workington Comets rising star, Rusty Harrison overcame a red hot field of young guns and a rampaging Travis McGowan to record a stunning victory in the Australian under 21 titles held at the Gillman venue in dusty conditions in South Australia on Saturday night. The track conditions were described as both dusty and passing was difficult from the outside, but none the less the racing spectacle produced some slashing efforts in the heats, which were dominated by the pre meeting favourite Travis McGowan whom finished with a maximum 15 points from his 5 rides and he also defeated Rusty in their respective heat race.
Travis recently discarded by Kings Lynn showed his Elite League experience in his heats when he drew the difficult gate 4 position twice, but still managed to grap the gate on both occasions and in heat 6 his class was never more evident when he pulled off the pass of the night to switch back inside NSW's Ben Shields to take the win.
Rusty Harrison also produced a some superb racing in his heats and only dropped a point to finish 2nd on 14 points behind Travis. Rusty made his intentions clear for the night from the outset of heat 1, when he took the win from double world u 21 finalist, Victorian Kevin Doolan. Rusty also managed to go under the minute mark twice in his heats.
Another burning flame on the rise is young Victorian tyro, Ashley Jones who has impressed crowds at The Gosford Lynx Speedway venue this season with his ever improving form. He finished with the 3rd highest points scored recording 12 points as he went about his trade in his usual quite and no nonsense style of solid riding.
NSW's Edinburgh bound Ben Shields showed flashes of brillance after struggling early on from the dusty conditions out wide to bounce back in stylish fashion to reel off 2 heat wins on board his very fast JAWA bike. Ben earned his berth in the final after finishing with an impressive 11 points from his heats raced.
Queenslander Christian Henry after shining early on in the meeting, was let down by some poor gating and as the track was proving hard to pass on, he failed to gain the further points needed to force his way into the final.
Others to impress was Cessnock's Dean Wiseman who recently contested the Senior titles, finished with 7 points after some wayward riding early on in the night from the track conditions. Brendan Mackay now based in South Australia had a steady night and peeled off 2 heat wins and finished with 8 points for the night and with a bit of luck could have forced his way to a final berth.
The final saw the combatants, McGowan, Harrison, Sheilds and Jones lined up to do battle for the title. Harrison took the gate from the outset and rode an intelligent race holding the inside line all the way until in stunning fashion, Travis McGowan fell after trying to pass Rusty bravely from the outside without success. This allowed Rusty to run away with the final and record his maiden Australian Under 21 title from a jubilant Ashley Jones in 2nd place and NSW's Young Gun Benny Shields recording a stirring 3rd placing and rightfully taking his place on the dias.
It will be interesting now to see how many places are allocated for Australian riders for the World Under 21 qualifiers culminating in the final on August 27th in the U.K.
HEAT DETAILS
Ht 1 Harrison, Doolan, Mackay, James 59.24
Ht 2 McGowan, Groves, Gromball, Stevens(DNF) 59.73
Ht 3 Henry, Stojakovic, Headley, Wiseman 1.00.72
Ht 4 Shields, Jones, Leverington, Ferguson 59.81
Ht 5 Mackay, Stojakovic, (Stevens, Leverington DNF) 1.00.57
Ht 6 McGowan, Harrison, Wiseman, Shields 58.38 (Fastest of night)
Ht 7 Henry, Ferguson, James, Groves 1.01.04
Ht 8 Jones, Headley, Gromball, Doolan (DNF) 1.01.39
Ht 9 McGowan, Jones, Henry, Mackay (fell) race declared
Ht 10 Harrison, Ferguson, Headley, Stevens (DNF)59.37
Ht 11 Shields, James, Gromball, Stojakovic (DNF) 1.00.54
Ht 12 Doolan, Wiseman, Leverington, Groves 1.00.13
Ht 13 Shields, Mackay, Headley, Groves 59.77
Ht 14 Harrison, Henry, Leverington, Gromball 59.84
Ht 15 Jones, Wiseman, James, Schlien (replaced Stevens) 1.00.59
Ht 16 McGowan, Doolan, Ferguson, Stojakovic(fell) 1.00.16
Ht 17 Mackay, Wiseman, Ferguson, Gromball (EX) declared
Ht 18 Harrison, Jones, Groves, Stojakovic (DNS) 1.00.24
Ht 19 McGowan, James, Headley, Leverington 59.24
Ht 20 Doolan, Shields, Henry, Schlien DNS 59.35
Final
Harrison, Jones, Shields, McGowan(fell) 59.06 (2nd fastest time of
night).
POINTS:
1. Brendan Mackay (Northern Terratories) 8
2. Rusty Harrison (South Australia) 14
3 Scott James (South Australia) 4
4. Kevin Doolan (Victoria) 10
5. Jaye Stevens (New South Wales) 0
6. Travis McGowan (Victoria) 15
7. Todd Groves (Queensland) 3
8. Shane Gromble (South Australia) 3
9. Troy Strojakovic (South Australia) 4
10. Dean Wiseman (New South Wales) 7
11. Christian Henry (Queensland) 10
12. Nathan Headley (Victoria) 7
13. Trent Leverington (Queensland) 3
14. Ben Shields (New South Wales) 11
15. Chris Ferguson (Victoria) 6
16. Ashley Jones (Victoria) 12
[This report is by Anthony McGuire]