Trent Headland/Jaxon Rayner are the FIM Oceania Speedway Sidecar champions of 2026, denying the Mark Plaisted/Ben Pitt combination of the chance to make it a hattrick of wins at Gillman Speedway on Saturday, April 4.
The pair edged out Nate Headland/Harry Hearne (the former being Trent’s son) in the final, and they were the only finishers of a final that had two attempts due to a crash for the Plaisted/Pitt pairing, with Brodie Cohen/Jesse Headland caught up in it aswell. Cohen/Headland were awarded with third for night.
The 24 heats that preceeded the final featured great racing with the winners including the likes of Headland/Rayner, Headland/Hearne, Plaisted/Pitt, Cohen/Headland, Brian Silvy/Glen Zaworski, Richard Stephens/Nick O’Brien, Kym Menadue/Shane Dolan and Tyler Moon/Adam Lovell.
In the last round of heats (17-20); Headland/Rayner beat Silvy/Zaworski in heat 17, Plaisted/Pitt beat Menadue/Dolan in heat 18, Headland/Hearne beat Byren Gates/Damian Egan in heat 19, and Cohen/Headland was victorious in heat 20.
This meant the final tally of heat points for the night were Headland/Rayner (14), Plaisted/Pitt (13), Headland/Hearne (11), Cohen/Headland (11), Gates/Egan (11), Menadue/Dolan (11) and Silvy/Zaworski (10) as the finalists, with Headland/Hearne winning the countback for the third spot in the final.
Cohen/Headland and Gates/Egan were unable to be separated by the countback and had to draw lots for choice of gate positions in the semi-final. Cohen/Headland won the draw, took the red helmet and led all the way from Menadue/Dolan, Silvy/Zaworski and Gates/Egan to advance to the final.
The final saw Headland/Rayner starting in red, Plaisted/Pitt in blue, Headland/Hearne in white and Cohen/Headland in yellow.
From the start, Headland/Rayner went straight into the lead and Headland/Hearne got the better of Plaisted/Pitt through turn two and down the back straight to take second. This is how it stayed for the remainder of the final with Plaisted/Pitt and Cohen/Headland in a fight for third until disaster struck with one lap remaining, the reigning champions getting too much slide around a corner and the latter – in an effort to avoid getting tangled up in the incident – crashed into them.
Plaisted/Pitt were adjudged to be at fault and were subsequently excluded from the re-run, while Cohen was in no fit state to contest the re-run. This left for Headland/Rayner to claim their first FIM Oceania Championship crown from Headland/Hearne, while Cohen/Headland were awarded with third place.
Images: Judy Mackay