Justin Sedgmen, who rode for the Swindon Sprockets during the Summer, reigned victorious in the prestigious Ivan Mauger Golden Helmet at Adelaide's Gillman Speedway in Southern Australia last weekend.
The talented sixteen year old Australian had finished second to Jake Anderson in a similar event at the Renmark Speedway the previous weekend but reversed the results this time around by leading all the way in the final to win from Anderson, Todd Kurtz and Hugh Skidmore.
Anderson, who only turned 19 last month but was the oldest of the four finalists, looked the likely winner earlier in the night with convincing wins in his first three heats but he came unstuck in his last heat when he hit the fence and fell on the back straight of the opening lap.
Despite having won three of his four heats, 9 points was not enough to earn him direct entry into the final, but he had a second chance, which he gleefully took, by winning a semi-final to determine the fourth finalist.
The semi-final was meant to be for the fourth to seventh highest point scorers, but the scoring was so even in this entertaining meeting with young, mostly teenage, riders from all around Australia, that officials decided to run six riders in the race. That made things tight on the first lap and Ryan Sedgmen was taken high on the first lap and forced to back off which effectively ended his chances, while 16-year-old English rider Kyle Newman was also hampered in the same incident.
Newman, New South Wales' Hugh Skidmore and Western Australia's Shelby Rutherford, three riders all new to Gillman provided some exciting scraps during the night, but the most impressive ride of the night was an unexpected win by Todd Kurtz in heat ten.
Kurtz, who only turned sixteen four days before the meeting so was making his senior debut, surprised by being the early leader against the Sedgmen brothers and Anderson, but when Anderson hit the fence and fell the race was stopped. In the rerun Kurtz was pushed back into last place but on the third lap he amazed everyone by moving smoothly around first Ryan, and then Justin Sedgmen, to take the lead and then pull away slightly for a very good win.
