Suzuki of Newcastle Ulysses AGM Speedway meeting sees Tungate on top
A good time was had by all – that was the general consensus from participants and fans at the Suzuki of Newcastle Ulysses AGM Speedway meeting staged at the Newcastle Showground last night (Wednesday March 23).
For some fans it would have been their first look at speedway for quite a while and particularly for them it was good that the meeting provided plenty of variety showcasing what the sport used to be like, what it is now and also looked into the future.
Perhaps the only people not always smiling were a few who had to push start, in some cases, some hard to start machines from bygone days, but thankfully all did eventually fire up and the pervading sound and smell was a delight to those with long memories of the sport.
The most serious racing came from the present day solo ranks with a group young up-and-coming riders hell bent on success.
Honours were fairly well shared in the heats with Rohan Tungate takings three wins to shade Mason Campton and Daine Stevens on points, but in the final Campton triumphed ahead of Joey Ringwood and Stevens.
Ringwood had got better as the night wore on, despite so nearly crashing when he clipped the fence at full speed in one race.
Tungate left his worst start for the final and was then forced out with a mechanical problem.
Even though there were only small fields in the other classes fans were well pleased with the exciting action turned on.
With local rider Darren Café sidelined after practice just two sidecars were left but these two veteran campaigners turned on plenty of thrills during the course of the program with the lead changing constantly.
Jim-Bob Turner and passenger Ryan Edwards eventually took the honours by winning three of the five races ahead of Brisbane father and son team Paul and Daniel Newman.
Turner and Newman both took to the track on one other occasion, both taking a different passenger for a ride. Steward of the meeting Trevor Dare jumped on with Tamworth cohort Turner while current day photographer Trevor Harvey was reunited with Newman 21 years after they rode together at Gove Speedway.
The 450cc 4-stroke class provided a great youth versus experience battle, in which experience prevailed.
Veteran Paul Caslick again showed that he is still the benchmark in this class of racing, even though the much younger Alan McDonald lowered his colours in three of the six rounds and another youngster Jackson Jeffrey was never far away from them.
There was an equally exciting clash in the Twin Cylinder class where even though Jackson Jeffrey won five of the six rounds he was constantly made to work hard to get the better of Kurt Close.
The great Ivan Mauger also took to the track, albeit for a few slow parade laps, and was interviewed by announcers Peter Baker and Ross Allan and more recent champion Todd Wiltshire was also on hand.
Fans were also given a glimpse of the future as the highly promising 14 year old Sean McLellan showed off a 350cc machine while two junior speedway machines were also paraded.
RESULTS: SOLOS
Rohan Tungate 13, Mason Campton 12, Daine Stevens 11, Joey Ringwood 9, James Bevan 6.
FINAL Campton 1st, Ringwood 2nd, Stevens 3rd.
SIDECARS
Jim-Bob Turner / Ryan Edwards d. Paul Newman / Daniel Newman 3-2.
450cc 4-STROKE
OVERALL POINTS – Paul Caslick 27, Alan McDonald 25, Jackson Jeffrey 20
V TWINS
OVERALL POINTS – Jackson Jeffrey 17, Kurt Close 13, Darrel Elliott 5