GORDON AND LIPTROTT/THOMAS win TAYLOR AND NASH Foundation Cup

In winning the Solo Final Brad Gordon scored the biggest win of his career as a 500 cc Solo rider. Meanwhile Reece Liptrott and passenger Jesse Thomas continued their fine Sidecar form from last season to take out the Sidecar Final. The first meeting of the year was the Chum Taylor and Dennis Nash Foundation Cup. A trophy that plenty of riders have chased over the years.

500CC Solos: Plenty of excitement with a few tumbles to keep interest high. Daniel Winchester and Matt Marson were both undefeated prior to the finals with four wins each. Other heat wins went to Brad Gordon, Drew Winchester and Kale Ballantyne. The B Final was a brilliant race that Kale Ballantyne seemed destined to win until bike gremlins struck leaving the Ziedas brothers Kobee and Jarryd along with Jason Marzoli to fight it out between them. Kobee Ziedas would prevail and grab the last spot available in the A Final and a chance at winning the Chum Taylor leg of the Foundation Cup.

Most pundits may have thought that the A Final would be won by either Daniel Winchester or Matt Marson and going into the back straight the first time through Winchester had a narrow lead over Marson, but Brad Gordon had other plans. The youngster charged around the outside of his more experienced opponents to hit the lead going into turn three. Several moments late Winchester dropped his bike and tumbled across the track, Ziedas had to take evasive action and ended up in the air fence. The race was red flagged. Winchester was OK but his bike substantially damaged. Ziedas’s bike too was damaged, but he was able to make the rerun. Once again Marson got away from Gordon at the start but Gordon swept by on the back straight and into a lead he wouldn’t surrender. Marson chased hard but his machine gave up about fifty metres from home leaving him to push it across the line, but he was still second because Ziedas was a distant third. A popular win from young Gordon, let’s hope he can maintain this sort of effort.

Senior Sidecars: Seven teams with five pairs scoring a win. Best performer in the heats was the father and son combination of Jeff and Daniel Bishop who came away with three wins. The presentation of the outfits is beautiful with performances to match. With most teams scoring freely, qualifying for the A Final was tight with eventually the Bishops, Reece Liptrott/Jesse Thomas and Chad Harvey/Jamie Thomson making it through. This made the last chance B qualifier one heck of a race and Josh Wells/Clinton Holmwood pulled out all the stops in a great ride.

The A Final was sensational from the moment the tapes flew with Liptrott/Thomas out of gate one getting the best of the big clash in turn one. They were followed by Wells/Holmwood with the Bishops and Harvey/Thomson tailed off. Catching Liptrott/Thomas was a huge ask and they led all the way in what was a superb spectacle. Wells/Holmwood on a very quick machine held on for second with Jeff and Daniel Bishop taking third. Reece Liptrott and Jesse Thomas have signalled that once again they will be one of WA’s top teams and have now added their names to the Dennis Nash leg of the Foundation Cup.

250 CC Solos: Luke Killeen didn’t miss a beat all night with five wins from five starts and if he can maintain his form, he will head to the Australian Title here at Pinjar Park on January 18th as one of the favourites. Good to see Lincoln Worrall’s vastly improved style along with Jack McDiarmid who this year along with Luke Killeen is doing double duty riding both 125’s and 250’s.

125 CC Solos: Action aplenty on the Junior track, on the infield, with Luke Killeen and Jack McDiarmid both taking a fall at different times. This opened up the door for Mitchell McDiarmid to get in for two wins. Killeen however prevailed come Final time getting home ahead of the brothers (Jack and Mitchell) and Trevar Dossett in the very quick time of 42.14 seconds. With the Australian 125cc Title also set down for Pinjar Park (Woffy Track) on January 17^th the WA boys will be difficult to beat.

250 CC Sidecars: Adam Fewster has stepped up to replace brother Jack at the handlebars on the A1 Junior Outfit. Taking Adam’s place as passenger is Thomas Grigson. Jack is now too old to compete as a Junior and we await his senior debut. Meanwhile Jake Harvey and Tyler Solomon are back with #63. Both teams had a few teething problems with mechanical issues sidelining Harvey/Solomon halfway through the night. As in previous season’s these two pairings look incredibly evenly matched.

125 CC Lites: Competitive numbers with Jake Corbett, Regan Dossett, Jett Harvey, Max Harvey, Tyler Madgen, Linkin Metcalf, Alex Prall, Xander Smith and Darcey Timmis. Metcalf and Madgen showed great form and were the ones to beat on the night. Darcey Timmis and Max Harvey grabbed a win a piece in what is a very strong division.

110 CC’s: Tyler Madgen didn’t put a foot wrong all night on the 110’s. Four starts, four wins. He had good company in Darcey Timmis, Jake Corbett and Holly Barford.

50 CC’s: Plenty of room for riders here with Mason Moffat, Mason Robins, Coby Robson and Noah Sandilands all having a good hit out with four scheduled races. I’m sure we could fit more on the track!

Balance Bikes: No race report would be complete without a mention of the mighty Balance Bikes and the one lap record attempt on a bike with no motor and no brakes. The more the merrier. Lots of different styles and tactics… and that’s just the parents!

RESULTS