2002 Australian Sidecar Championship - Round 1

South Australian duo Neville Lush and Martin Scott got the holeshot in the first sidecar race of the weekend at Mallala. The race originally scheduled for Saturday but due to a fatality in Saturday SuperBike qualifying was delayed until Sunday. By the start of lap 2 current Australian champions Ron & Ray Curran had hit the lead. In turn 6 on lap 2 the Hazleman outfit overturned and caused the race to be red flagged as medical teams attended the scene and looked after one of the riders who we think has a shoulder injury.

At the re-start Lush/Scott once again streaked away off the 2nd row to lead them through turn 1-2 from their pursuers, Messina/Scoullar and Curran/Curran. On lap 3 the Currans shot to the lead, the outfit of Vince Messina and Alison Scoullar also got through on Lush/Scott to move in to 2nd position.

Messina & Scoullar powered past the Currans on lap 4 and started to build a lead. David Pledge and Anthony Oakes had a big moment at the Northern Hairpin and ran on to the grass for a while before re-joining the race. Messina & Scoullar seemed to have technical problems during the closing laps which allowed both Curran/Curran and Lush/Scott to move past them. Ron & Ray Curran took the win from Neville Lush and Martin Scott with Vince Messina & Alison Scoullar 3rd. Full results to follow.

1    R Curran/R Curran (VIC)  Windle Honda         1100  10:24.1956   5 1:16.4289*
2    N Lush/M Scott (SA)      Kawasaki ZZR         1100  10:28.5175   2 1:17.5000 
3    V Messina/A Scoular VIC  Alvin Mk7            1100  10:33.8630   3 1:16.5626 
4    R Hair/C Burrows (WA)    Kawasaki ZZR         1100  10:35.4019   3 1:17.6419 
5    J Francis/P Little (SA)  Kawasaki ZZR         1100  10:36.0475   5 1:18.0618 
6    L Fagan/A Voice (WA)     LCR Kawasaki         1100  10:36.8075   3 1:17.7800 
7    D Pledge/A Oakes (SA)    Honda CBR            1050  10:48.3164   2 1:17.2036 
8    M Alton/W Grice (NSW)    Yamaha LCR           1000  10:55.0656   3 1:19.5300 
9    A van Uitert/P Cald SA   Kawasaki ZZR         1100  10:58.1956   8 1:20.1211 
10   W Bruce/M Patterson NSW  LCR Kawasaki ZZR     1100  11:09.5162   6 1:20.9743 
11   C Watson/D Jeal (WA)     Honda CBR F2         600   11:10.9356   2 1:21.7800 
12   D Cawthorne/B Clow (SA)  Honda CBR            1000  11:16.1556   6 1:22.6759 
13   D Jones/I Cutting (SA)   Honda Windle F2      600   11:17.7144   7 1:23.0169 
14   J James/B James (NSW)    Windle Suzuki f2     600   11:20.8534   6 1:22.3459 
15   R Walters/S Raglin (TAS) Shelbourne F2        350   11:40.0119   8 1:25.6204 
16   D Rayner/C Longhurst NSW Honda CBR F2         600   10:27.8075   2 1:26.6700 
DNF  M Johnston/J Hooper VIC  Kawasaki BME ZZR F2  600    7:34.1707   3 1:26.5915 
DNF  C Buckley/D Abrahams NZ  Yamaha R1            1000   5:20.0146   3 1:16.9500 
DNF  C Grubb/J Gorski (VIC)   Windle Kawasaki ZZR  1100   4:14.4108   2 1:22.0114 
DNF  B Morgan/D Morgan (NSW)  Cagiva F2            996    4:43.6298   2 1:30.5700