Gillman Speedway
Encyclopedia
Gillman Speedway is a purpose built motorcycle speedway
located in the Adelaide
suburb of Gillman
in South Australia
.
The closure of the nearby North Arm Speedway
at the end of the 1996-97 season left Adelaide without a venue for motorcycle speedway for the first time in almost 80 years. David Parker, the President of the Speedway Riders' Association of South Australia Inc. and Motorcycling SA President Ivan Golding inspected many sites for a new motorcycle speedway before settling on the Heini Becker Park Motorsport Complex at Gillman. The only equipment they had to start building the new venue was an old water truck, an old Gallion Grader and a Massey Ferguson
tractor (which is still going, whereas the other machinery has since died).
Gillman Speedway held its first official practice on Sunday, 19 October 1997 on a small 213 metre track formed using dolomite from the old North Arm track and held regular monthly practice meetings while a larger 400m dirt track was constructed. After numerous practices on the larger track, the first meeting was held on 16 May 1998.
Meetings were held at the circuit for the next two years while continued improvements were carried out. Temporary lights were installed in November 1999 and on 7 January 2000, the first meeting under lights was held which was the South Australian Solo Championship.
Over the winter during 2000, the Speedway Riders' Association of SA Inc. was given financial help and also had the manpower help of the local riders and their family and friends. This allowed the Association to level both existing tracks and to build the international standard track that is in use to this day.
The current track is 300m long and is 13m wide on the straights and 15m on corners with slight camber. The surface is a dolomite, crushed granite and clay mix while the Safety fence is constructed of 1.2 metre high rubber belting, suspended on high tensile wire strands. The speedway has eight 15m high light poles with each having three x 2000 watt metal halide lights. The track opened on Australia Day
(26 January) 2001 with the staging of the Jack Young
Solo Cup and the Harry Denton Memorial Shield for Sidecar
.
Since its opening, Gillman has been regarded as one of the premier motorcycle speedways in Australia
. Since 2005 has held at least one round of the Australian Solo Championship and is set to host the final round of the 2012 championship. Gillman also held the Australian Speedway Sidecar Championship in both 2008 and 2011 and it held the Australian Under-21 Solo Championship on 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.
In 2006 a Junior track was built on the infield of the main track to encourage junior development and was opened on 21 October by legendary Rowley Park Speedway
promoter Kym Bonython
. Other distinguished guests on the night included six time World Champion
Ivan Mauger
(who gave a demonstration ride at age 67), former captain and later manager of the English and Great Britain
teams Nigel Boocock
, twice Australian and nine time South Australian champion from the 1960s and 70s John Boulger
, South Australian speedway legend Bill Wigzell who is more known for driving Super Modifieds
and Speedcars
but actually got his start in speedway as a Solo rider at Adelaide's old Kilburn Speedway as well as former flagman/Clerk of Course at Rowley Park and the Australian Grand Prix
, Glen Dix. Like its big brother, the 111m long "sidewinders" track is a dolomite, crushed granite and clay mix and has no safety fence although the shortest run-off area is 17m giving riders time to stop before hitting the fence on the main track.
To increase the safety of the riders, the Speedway Riders Association will have an air-fence installed at Gillman Speedway by the start of the 2011-12 season.
On 11 May 2011 it was announced that Gillman Speedway would hold the third and final round of the 2011/12 Australian Solo Championship on 21 January 2012.
Nine days later on 20 May 2011 it was announced that Gillman Speedway would hold the final round of the new 13 round 2011/12 Speedway Sidecar Grand Slam, The series, the first of its kind in Australia for Sidecars, starts on 14 October at the Pioneer Park Speedway in Ayr, Queensland
will be headlined by five times Australian champions Glenn O’Brien from Western Australia
and Darrin Treloar from New South Wales
as well as current World Champions Mick Headland and Paul Waters. The provisional date for the final at Gillman Speedway is 7 April 2012.
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
located in the Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
suburb of Gillman
Gillman, South Australia
Gillman is a north western suburb of Adelaide, in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield....
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
.
The closure of the nearby North Arm Speedway
North Arm Speedway
North Arm Speedway was the first dedicated motorcycle speedway ever built in Adelaide, South Australia and was located in the industrial suburb of Gillman...
at the end of the 1996-97 season left Adelaide without a venue for motorcycle speedway for the first time in almost 80 years. David Parker, the President of the Speedway Riders' Association of South Australia Inc. and Motorcycling SA President Ivan Golding inspected many sites for a new motorcycle speedway before settling on the Heini Becker Park Motorsport Complex at Gillman. The only equipment they had to start building the new venue was an old water truck, an old Gallion Grader and a Massey Ferguson
Massey Ferguson
Massey Ferguson Limited was a major agricultural equipment manufacturer which was based in Canada before its purchase by AGCO. The company was formed by a merger between Massey Harris and the Ferguson tractor company in 1953, creating the company Massey Harris Ferguson. However in 1958 the name was...
tractor (which is still going, whereas the other machinery has since died).
Gillman Speedway held its first official practice on Sunday, 19 October 1997 on a small 213 metre track formed using dolomite from the old North Arm track and held regular monthly practice meetings while a larger 400m dirt track was constructed. After numerous practices on the larger track, the first meeting was held on 16 May 1998.
Meetings were held at the circuit for the next two years while continued improvements were carried out. Temporary lights were installed in November 1999 and on 7 January 2000, the first meeting under lights was held which was the South Australian Solo Championship.
Over the winter during 2000, the Speedway Riders' Association of SA Inc. was given financial help and also had the manpower help of the local riders and their family and friends. This allowed the Association to level both existing tracks and to build the international standard track that is in use to this day.
The current track is 300m long and is 13m wide on the straights and 15m on corners with slight camber. The surface is a dolomite, crushed granite and clay mix while the Safety fence is constructed of 1.2 metre high rubber belting, suspended on high tensile wire strands. The speedway has eight 15m high light poles with each having three x 2000 watt metal halide lights. The track opened on Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
(26 January) 2001 with the staging of the Jack Young
Jack Young (speedway rider)
Jack Ellis Young was a Motorcycle speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1951 and 1952...
Solo Cup and the Harry Denton Memorial Shield for Sidecar
Sidecar speedway
Sidecar Speedway is a motorcycle sport involving 4 crews of a rider and a passenger competing over 4 laps on an oval shale surface. Rules are governed by the national speedway federation and are not dissimilar to conventional speedway rules....
.
Since its opening, Gillman has been regarded as one of the premier motorcycle speedways in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Since 2005 has held at least one round of the Australian Solo Championship and is set to host the final round of the 2012 championship. Gillman also held the Australian Speedway Sidecar Championship in both 2008 and 2011 and it held the Australian Under-21 Solo Championship on 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.
In 2006 a Junior track was built on the infield of the main track to encourage junior development and was opened on 21 October by legendary Rowley Park Speedway
Rowley park speedway
Rowley Park Speedway is a former Dirt track racing venue that was located on Torrens Road in Brompton, South Australia, The speedway was named after Mr Enoch Procter Rowley, an English-born Dentist who moved to Adelaide from Kalgoorlie in 1908 where he had forged a reputation as being Western...
promoter Kym Bonython
Kym Bonython
Hugh Reskymer "Kym" Bonython, AC, DFC, AFC was a prominent and active member of Adelaide society in Australia, with a very wide range of interests, activities and achievements in the fields of business, the arts, entertainment and public service.His occupations included radio broadcaster, pilot,...
. Other distinguished guests on the night included six time World Champion
Speedway World Championship
The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world. Today, it is organised as a series of Speedway Grand Prix events, where points are awarded according to performance in the event and tallied up at the end of each...
Ivan Mauger
Ivan Mauger
Ivan Mauger, OBE, MBE, is a retired motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships, a feat only equalled by Tony Rickardsson of Sweden...
(who gave a demonstration ride at age 67), former captain and later manager of the English and Great Britain
Great Britain national speedway team
The Great Britain national speedway team are one of the major teams in international speedway. The team is managed by Poole Pirates manager Neil Middleditch and the captain is Chris Harris of the Belle Vue Aces....
teams Nigel Boocock
Nigel Boocock
Nigel Boocock is a former speedway rider who appeared in eight Speedway World Championship finals and was a reserve in one other .-Career:...
, twice Australian and nine time South Australian champion from the 1960s and 70s John Boulger
John Boulger
John Boulger is a former international motorcycle speedway rider. After he retired from riding Solo's, Boulger raced in Speedcars from the mid-1980s until the mid-1990s...
, South Australian speedway legend Bill Wigzell who is more known for driving Super Modifieds
Sprint car racing
Sprint cars are high-powered race cars designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa....
and Speedcars
Midget car racing
Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, are very small race cars with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four-cylinder engines.-Cars:Typically, these cars have 300 to 400 horsepower and weigh...
but actually got his start in speedway as a Solo rider at Adelaide's old Kilburn Speedway as well as former flagman/Clerk of Course at Rowley Park and the Australian Grand Prix
Australian Grand Prix
The Australian Grand Prix is a motor race held annually and is held to be the pinnacle of motor racing in Australia. The Grand Prix is the oldest surviving motor racing competition held in Australia having been held 76 times since it was first run at Phillip Island in 1928. Since 1985 the race has...
, Glen Dix. Like its big brother, the 111m long "sidewinders" track is a dolomite, crushed granite and clay mix and has no safety fence although the shortest run-off area is 17m giving riders time to stop before hitting the fence on the main track.
To increase the safety of the riders, the Speedway Riders Association will have an air-fence installed at Gillman Speedway by the start of the 2011-12 season.
On 11 May 2011 it was announced that Gillman Speedway would hold the third and final round of the 2011/12 Australian Solo Championship on 21 January 2012.
Nine days later on 20 May 2011 it was announced that Gillman Speedway would hold the final round of the new 13 round 2011/12 Speedway Sidecar Grand Slam, The series, the first of its kind in Australia for Sidecars, starts on 14 October at the Pioneer Park Speedway in Ayr, Queensland
Ayr, Queensland
Ayr is a town in Queensland, Australia near the delta of the Burdekin River, named after the Scottish town of Ayr by the settlers from the United Kingdom...
will be headlined by five times Australian champions Glenn O’Brien from Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Darrin Treloar from New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
as well as current World Champions Mick Headland and Paul Waters. The provisional date for the final at Gillman Speedway is 7 April 2012.
Lap Records
as of 7 June 2011- Solo (4 laps clutch start): 0:54.90 - Leigh AdamsLeigh AdamsLeigh Scott Adams is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion...
(
), 10 January 2009 - Sidecar (4 laps clutch start): 0:59.19 - Mark Plaisted (
) / Jamie Banks ( ), 26 March 2011 - 125cc Junior Solo (4 Laps clutch start): 0:41.55 - Max Fricke ( ), 22 January 2011
- 250cc Junior Sidecar (4 Laps clutch start): 0:42.46 - Shane Hudson (
) / Sam Gilbert ( ), 26 March 2011