General News
2 February, 2025
Australia Day double-header for Gil Speedway
From the January 29 publication.
Another all-Gilgandra podium finish including a special family top-two placing in the 2025 Michael Harland Memorial was a fitting highlight of an action-packed long weekend double-header at Gilgandra Speedway on January 25 and 26.
The Michael Harland Memorial is a race in honour of the late Gilgandra District Speedway Club (GDSC) stalwart.
He raced in the Fenders Benders category so the race is conducted in that field.
A minutes silence was held pre-race, along with the national anthem being played on Australia Day.
Nathan Harland won his second-successive Michael Harland Memorial after also taking out the event in March 2024.
Brian Harland finished second on Sunday with another Gilgandra driver Leslie Garnham in third place.
Nathan Harland is Michael’s son and Brian Harland is Michael’s brother, making it a special one-two for the family.
It was a huge weekend of racing for the GDSC, with two meetings, one Saturday and another on Sunday.
In the NSW V8 Dirt Modifieds Fastlane Super Series round two, Mark Robinson was able to claim victory from Chris Corbett (second) and third-placed Josh Rose.
Robinson set a blistering lap time of 15.779 according to the NSW V8 Dirt Modifieds’ social media and then started on pole in the 20-lap feature to win round two.
Dale Corbett (1A) and Scott Cannon (1B) were Saturday’s two heat winners before that night’s final.
Ryan Silcock was the winner of the Modlites NSW State Title after Sunday’s final.
Silcock was able to defeat Corey Stein (second) with Callum Beerling in third.
Heat winners on Saturday in the Modlites NSW State Title included Cameron Birch (heat one), Rieley Fisher (heat two), Silcock (heats three and five), Harrison Bates (heat four) and Beerling (heat six), Modlites NSW social media reported.
The NSW Fender Bender Division Two state title was also held on Saturday with Gilgandra’s Nathan Harland also claiming the victory in that event.
Nathan Harland was defending state champion and held onto his crown to record a second-straight win in the category.
There were 24 cars in the category, so it was a momentous achievement by Nathan.
Jamie Kerr suffered a roll-over in the NSW Fender Benders on Saturday, but luckily the Gilgandra driver escaped with no major injuries.
Saturday featured a bumper crowd and Sunday was also well-attended, with more than 500 spectators across the weekend.
More than 150 drivers competed on Saturday, when temperatures exceeded 35 degrees and on Sunday the mercury was around 39 degrees.
“We can’t thank the drivers and the community enough,” GDSC secretary Louise Harland said.
“It has been massive weekend both for speedway and the community of Gilgandra. “The drivers did extremely well in the conditions.”
“Hot conditions, but people still supported it. It has really helped our club. Biggest weekend in a long time.”
The GDSC was also proud to welcome Gilgandra Shire Council general manager David Neeves and Gilgandra Shire’s Australia Day ambassador Dr Clio Cresswell at Sunday’s meeting. The pair presented trophies and posed for photos.
“It was special for the club,” Louise said.
Neeves even spoke about the renovations about to take place at Gilgandra Speedway.
After GDSC received a crown lands funding grant for around $525,000, a new racing wall and catch fence will be built.
Work is expected to start in February and Gilgandra Speedway hope to be racing again by the October long weekend.
The pair of GDSC meetings were also live-streamed all weekend via What’s on Speedway TV.
People unable to attend could pay to have all events streamed to their homes, but the big winners were race-day patrons at both of Gilgandra events who could also watch the streams on a big screen live at the track.
“We’ve never done it before,” Louise Harland said.
“It was great for Gilgandra. The crowd loved it. We as the (Gilgandra) speedway loved it. Seeing it happening out on the screen at the track was awesome. It was a great experience for fans.”
Jordan Parsons, who was commentating on the event for What’s On Speedway TV, even did a dance for the crowd to Dolly Parton’s massive hit ‘9 to 5’ in between commentating the V8 Dirt Modified series.
He’d performed at Grafton recently and after watching the replay of that effort was at it again in Gilgandra. “The crowd loved it,” Louise said. “He was awesome.”
