Mildura Speedway last weekend saw the crowning of Australia’s newest Champions, with Mark Plaisted and Ben Pitt and Jackson Milner and Adam Niesche winning the Australian Senior Speedway Sidecar Championship and Australian Junior Speedway Sidecar Championship, respectively. 

A bumper crowd at Olympic Park Speedway was treated to a sensational night of thrills and spills and sensational close racing in both the junior and senior sidecar classes.

Plaisted/Pitt continued their sensational run from their win in the FIM Oceania Speedway Sidecar Championship (https://www.australianspeedwaychampionships.com.au/media/plaisted-and-pitt-dominate-fim-oceania-speedway-sidecar-championship/)  earlier this month, making them the speedway sidecar kings of 2021 season.

The duo with a new Yamaha R1 underneath them didn’t have it all their own way on Saturday night and had to fight hard for the victory.

Plaisted/Pitt had planned earlier this year to have a serious tilt at both the FIM Oceania Speedway Sidecar Championship and the Australian Senior Speedway Sidecar Championship. They rebuilt their sidecar with a new engine replacing their 90s model and haven’t looked back, and are still celebrating last weekend’s victory today at a lunch with family and friends.

“It was a lot tougher than the FIM Oceania’s, but we just never gave up,” said Plaisted.

“We had one race where my passenger fell but we just never gave up. We made a really good start in the final and that did it for us.

“My lifetime goal was to win an Australian Championship as I had won an FIM Oceania Championship before, and the only thing missing out of the trophy cabinet was an Australian title.

“We were confident going into the weekend, but it didn’t start well, but we had to come out with a plan and it worked.

“I’m looking forward to running the number one on the back and defending the title, we will accept the new challenge.”

Plaisted said the win had been a long time coming for his team, crew, sponsors, supporters and family.

“The win means absolutely everything to us, we came close a few times over the years.

“It was actually really good as everyone was there, except for my wife, and her family in England. My Mum and Dad who put me through juniors, and I had a lot of mates there as well, probably close to 100 odd on the hill and it was a hell of a way to ride.”

Former Champions Warren Monson/Andrew Summerhayes took out second place and Mick Headland/Brenton Kerr finished third with speedway legends and also former Champions Darrin Treloar and Blake Cox round out the top 4.

In the Australian Junior Speedway Sidecar Championship amongst some very tough competition it was Jackson Milner and Adam Niesche who came out on top after some very close racing throughout the night.

“Well it was always going to be a tough night considering the pressure of all the crowd family and friends watching, but once we got all ready I felt calm and had confidence,” said Adam Niesche.

“I felt that our main competition was Jake Treloar as he had been riding really well all year.

“We lost to him in our 2nd race and that made me second guess if we will win or not. It came to the final and in the second lap he hit us and was excluded, this was a big moment.

“The restart happened and we won it, that was one of the best feelings in my career to be honest and I can’t wait to do it again.”

Jackson said: “After winning the title I was absolutely speechless but also screaming with happiness. And to do it at my home track where all my family and friends could see and cheer me on made it even more special because I could share that moment with them also.”

Kayden Gates and Harley Ackerley finished 2nd, Jake Treloar and Isaac Mitchell rounded out the top three.

Photos by Judy Mackay