After a full season of racing, the final event of the year at Sidewinders U16 Speedway Club took place last Saturday night for their 2024 Anzac Meeting. Adding to the excitement, the night also featured the rescheduled Presidents Cup, originally planned for the night before. This resulted in the winner of the main feature race taking out the 2024 Anzac Day honours, and the Presidents Cup being presented to a person or rider chosen by the president.
With a great field of riders, including plenty of familiar young talents, junior speedway fans were in for a treat with plenty of returning faces keen to give it one last crack for the season. Adding to the excitement of the competition classes, we saw a great lineup of novice riders, featuring non-competitive classes such as 50cc Auto and the 50cc demo class.
From the get-go, Victoria’s Blake Schlein got off to an early start with sights firmly set on the Anzac meeting honours, however returning regular Ryleigh McGregor would prove to be tough to beat as both took domineering positions across the night heats. With absolute class, Ryleigh McGregor rode an exceptional final to take out the 2024 Anzac Day meeting in front of Riley Stout in second and Hayden Kuchel in third. Unfortunately, it would be a challenging final for Blake Schlein, who received an exclusion for touching the tape.
After an exceptional night of competitive riding and to round out the season, congratulations to Connor Machin for being awarded the Presidents Cup for 2024.
President of the Sidewinders U16 Speedway Club, Adam Possingham said “I would like to send a massive thank you to the amazing volunteers for all their hard work behind the scenes in making this season such a success. This year has continued to be a deeply rewarding experience seeing our junior riders excel both locally and even internationally. I am really excited and looking forward to what’s in store for next season and hope everyone has a great relaxing off-season”.
There’s certainly nothing quite like a night at Sidewinders U16 Speedway Club, and with a well-earned offseason ahead for volunteers to recharge, we’re counting down the days until we see the track light up again with junior speedway talents.
Photo credit Terry Scriven Photography
Full photo album – HERE.
2024 Anzac Meeting results: