Justin Plaisted and Sam Harrison upstaged a host of more highly credentialed riders and dominated the Ikon Suspension Sidecar Grand Slam Finale at Gillman Speedway last night (7 April).

Plaisted and Harrison top scored in the heats with 14 points, 3 more than their closest rivals, and then led all the way in the final to win ahead of Mick Headland/Paul Waters, Darrin Treloar/Simon Cohrs and Trent Headland/Jesse Headland.

The meetings started on a bad note for North Queensland duo Brodie Cohen and Josh Sinnott cartwheeled going into the first corner of the first race, with Cohen sustaining a shoulder injury which eliminated him for the rest of the meeting. In the other Grand Slam meeting held at Gillman, on 8 January, Cohen suffered a similar fate when he was forced out for the night with a broken sump suffered before he reached the second turn, meaning he travelled approximately 10,000 kms to ride at Gillman this season for less than half-a-lap of racing!

The rerun was won by New Zealand #2 Andrew Buchanan and Philippa Burns, and a solid second place in their next ride behind Trent Headland but ahead of Mark Plaisted and Glenn O’Brien had them looking good for a semi-final place at least, but they only managed to score one more point for a total of 6, two short of a semi-final place.

Heat two saw the first of a number of surprise results as Trent Headland/Jesse Headland bustled their way under their father Mick (and Paul Waters) and rode away for a good win ahead of Justin Plaisted, Grant Bond/Glenn Cox and Mick Headland who slowed over the final stages. This was the only time Plaisted was beaten throughout the night.

Headland’s time was only 0.25 seconds outside Mark Plaisted’s 4 lap track record, but Warren Monson/Matt Morgan went even quicker in heat three and reduced Plaisted’s record of 59.26 seconds to 59.01sec. Monson’s time was surprising because he had to come through from third place to win, only passing the early leaders, Glenn O’Brien/Aaron Maynard on the third lap.

The biggest surprise of the night, actually of the season, came in heat four when reserves Aaron Hartwig/Teagan Hartwig replace the absence Clinton Mayes, and the Riverland teenagers led all the way to beat Mark Plaisted, Darrin Treloar and Byren Gates!

The second round heat wins went to Trent Headland, Mick Headland, Monson and Justin Plaisted, and the third round to Mick Headland, Gates, Justin Plaisted and Mark Plaisted to leave the points after 12 heats as J. Plaisted 8, Monson 7, T. Headland, M. Headland, M. Plaisted 6, Buchanan, Hartwig, Treloar 5, Bond, O’Brien, German and Gates 4.

Trent Headland was extremely unlucky not to be the only unbeaten rider on nine points. He was running second behind Chris Pascoe/Adam Pascoe in heat 10, when Pascoe got sideways in turn four, and Headland had to spin to avoid a collision. Unfortunately for him the referee deemed him to be the cause of the race stoppage and he was excluded.

Young Hartwig was the next to suffer some misfortune, although it was of his own doing, when he spun and stalled in heat 13. He was guaranteed at least a point at the time, with the possibility of two, and it cost him a chance of a semi-final berth, as he had another crowd-thrilling ride in heat 20 when he led Trent Headland and Monson for three laps before being relegated to second place by Headland.

Monson’s chance of a direct transfer to the final suffered a blow, and Mark Plaisted’s night ended altogether in heat 14. The two exchanged the lead several times, ahead of Justin Plaisted in third place, in a thrilling race until Monson went under Mark Plaisted approaching turn three and the third lap but took Plaisted’s front wheel in the process, causing Plaisted’s passenger Jamie Banks to fall. Monson was excluded, and Plaisted was forced to withdraw with Banks suffering a leg injury.

Trent Headland suffered his only defeat (apart from his exclusion) in the heats in heat 15 when he was beaten by Treloar, and conversely O’Brien scored his only win of the night in the next heat, 26, when he beat Mick Headland to leave the points, with one round of points to go as: J. Plaisted 11, T. Headland, M. Headland, Treloar 8, Monson, O’Brien, Bond 7, M. Plaisted, Niesche 6, Buchanan, Hartwig, Gates and German 4.

In the final round of heats, Justin Plaisted won heat 17, Treloar beat O’Brien and Bond in 18, Niesche scored an upset win over Mick Headland in 19 – which put Niesche into the semi, and cost Mick a direct place in the final, and, as mentioned, Trent Headland beat Hartwig and Monson in heat 20.

The top three scorers earning direct entry into the final were Justin Plaisted 14, Trent Headland 11, and Darrin Treloar 11. The four for the semi-final were Mick Headland 10, Glenn O’Brien 9, Damien Niesche 9, Warren Monson 8, with Grant Bond (8) missing out on a count back, and Byren Gates and Aaron Hartwig the next best on 7.

The semi-final is more often than not the best race of the night, but on this occasion it was a tame affair as Mick Headland bolted away to win comfortably from O’Brien, Monson and Niesche.

Starting positions for the final were Plaisted 1, T. Headland 2, Treloar 3, M. Headland 4, and again it was a relatively unremarkable race as Plaisted continued his dominance and led all the way for a narrow, but unchallenged, win. The major excitement came from Mick Headland who passed Treloar and Trent Headland on the opening lap.

Final placings: Justin Plaisted/Sam Harrison, Mick Headland/Paul Waters, Darrin Treloar/Simon Cohrs, Trent Headland/Jesse Headland.

Meeting winners Justin Plaisted and Sam Harrison (photo: Christopher Horne)

The placegetters (along with the Jack Daniels' girls) from left: Jesse Headland, Trent Headland, Mick Headland, Paul Waters, Simon Cohrs, Darrin Treloar, with Justin Plaisted and Sam Harrison in front [photo: Christopher Horne]