Justin Sedgmen

Justin Sedgmen
Born (1992-02-17) 17 February 1992 (age 32)
Mildura, Victoria, Australia
Career history
Great Britain
2009Somerset
2010, 2022-2023Birmingham
2010–2011, 2016Swindon
2011Newport
2011Plymouth
2012Redcar
2012Lakeside
2014–2015, 2019, 2024–2025Edinburgh
2017Ipswich
2017Belle Vue
2019, 2021–2022Sheffield
2020–2021Glasgow
2023Leicester
Poland
2010Miskolc
2011Opole
2014Ostrów
2016Zielona Góra
2023–2024Daugavpils
Individual honours
2011, 2017Jack Young Solo Cup winner
2012, 2019, 2020, 2021Victorian champion
2017, 2021, 2023South Australian champion
Team honours
2014, 2015Premier League
2014Premier League Knockout Cup
2014, 2015, 2022League Cup
2015Four-Team Championship

Justin Maxwell Sedgmen (born 17 February 1992) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider.[1][2][3]

Career

Junior career

Born in Mildura, Victoria, Justin Sedgmen and his older brother Ryan Sedgmen (born December 1990) began their speedway careers at Mildura's Olympic Park Speedway on the 112 metres (122 yd) infield junior track.

Justin and Ryan teamed to win the 2005 and 2006 Australian Under-16 Pairs Championships, and Justin followed that up by winning again in 2007 with Dakota North (after his brother had turned 16 and was riding in the senior ranks).[4]

Sedgmen finished the 2007 Australian Under-16 Championship at the Gold Coast Speedway in Queensland in equal first place with 13 points with Dakota North, but ultimately finished 3rd in the Final behind North and Darcy Ward.

Senior career

In 2009, both Justin and Ryan signed a contract with Speedway Ekstraliga team Unia Leszno, but they did not start in the league.[5] Before a 2010 season, Sedgmen signed to Hungarian Speedway Miskolc.[6] He also rode for Swindon Robins in 2010 and 2011.[7]

In 2011, Justin Sedgmen won the Jack Young Solo Cup at the Gillman Speedway in Adelaide. Also in 2011, Sedgmen was part of the Australian Under-21 Team that won the second semi-final of the Under-21 World Cup. Australia withdrew from the Final in Balakovo, Russia due to travel cost and visa problems, along with Sweden and Great Britain.

In 2012, Sedgmen rode for Redcar Bears in the Premier League, doubling up with Lakeside Hammers in the Elite League, but was dropped by the Bears in July after inconsistent performances.[8]

In 2012, Sedgeman won his first senior title, winning the Victorian State Championship at Undera Park. After sitting out the 2013 UK season, Sedgmen joined Edinburgh Monarchs in the Premier League in 2014, winning the league title with the team, and going on to ride for them for two seasons.[9]

Sedgmen won the 2014–15 Gillman Speedway Division 1 Solo Championship on 6 December 2014. He set the tone for the meeting in the first heat of the night with a time of 55.0 seconds, easily the fastest time of the night and only one-tenth outside Leigh Adams' almost 6-year-old track record.[10]

Sedgmen finished a to date career best third place in the four round 2015 Australian Championship behind runaway winner Jason Doyle and runner-up Sam Masters. Sedgemen and reigning champion Max Fricke both finished the series on 48 points, but was awarded third place after having finished in front of Fricke in each of the B or A Finals they contested against each other over the series. Also, Sedgmen qualified for the A final in both Round 1 at Gillman and again in Round 2 at Mildura while Fricke only qualified for the A final in Round 3 at Undera Park. Sedgmen's best A final result was second at Gillman behind Doyle while he finished third behind Doyle and 2012 world champion Chris Holder at Olympic Park.

Later in 2015, Sedgmen and Max Fricke were named as the two reserve riders for the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia which was held at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, although neither got to race on the night.[11] A fortnight later Sedgmen raced in the Darcy Ward Tribute Meeting at Gillman in Adelaide to raise money for the injured Australian rider. Sedgmen won his semi-final to make the A final, but was excluded for breaking the tapes at the start of the final.[12]

He was part of the Edinburgh team that won the Premier League Four-Team Championship final, which was held on 1 October 2015, at the Media Prime Arena.[13]

In November 2015, Sedgmen rejoined Swindon Robins for the 2016 Elite League season, and signed to ride for Grindsted in Denmark.[14][15]

In 2015, he finished third in the Australian Solo Championship.[4] In 2016, he signed to ride for Lokomotiv Daugavpils in the Polish first division, but didn't ride for them, and in June was loaned to Ekstraliga team Falubaz Zielona Góra.[4] Also in 2016, he won the Jason Crump Invitational at Kurri Kurri.[16]

For the 2017 season, he rode for Belle Vue and Ipswich and after missing the 2018 British season he returned to ride for Edinburgh during the SGB Championship 2019 season. However, a serious hand injury ended his involvement.[17]

After a disrupted 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to ride for Sheffield Tigers and Glasgow Tigers during 2021.[1]

In 2022, he rode for the Sheffield in the SGB Premiership 2022 and for the Birmingham Brummies in the SGB Championship 2022.[18] He helped Sheffield win the 2022 League cup and reach the Play off final.[19] In 2023, he signed for Leicester Lions for the SGB Premiership 2023[20] and re-signed for Birmingham for the SGB Championship 2023.[21] He re-signed for a third spell with Edinburgh for the 2024 Championship season[22] and shortly afterwards won a third South Australian championship.[23]

Family

He is the son of former Australian rider Gavin Sedgmen and the grandson of Phil Sedgmen.[citation needed]

Major results

World Championships

Under-21 Individual World Championship

  • 2009 – 10th placed in the Semi-Final Two
  • 2010qualify to the Semi-Final

Under-21 World Cup (Australian Team)

  • 2009 – 3rd placed in the Qualifying Round One
  • 2010 – 2nd placed in the Qualifying Round One
  • 2011* – Won Semi-final Two

* Australia withdrew from the 2011 U/21 WC Final due to the cost of travel and visa problems

Australian Championships

Australian Under-21 Championship

Australian Championship

  • 2009 – 15th – 16pts (3 rounds)
  • 2010 – 7th – 36pts (3 rounds)
  • 2011 – 5th – 51pts (4 rounds)
  • 2012 – 8th – 38pts (3 rounds)
  • 2013 – N/A (3 rounds)
  • 2014 – 6th – 53pts (3 rounds)
  • 20153rd – 48pts (4 rounds)
  • 2016 – 6th – 46pts (4 rounds)
  • 20172nd – 55pts (4 rounds)

Speedway Grand Prix results

Year Position Points Best finish Notes
2015 NC - Reserve rider in Australia

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Justin Sedgmen". WWOS backup. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Justin Sedgmen Australia". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
  3. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b c "Falubaz Zielona Góra ma nowego zawodnika. To Justin Sedgmen", Gazeta Lubuska, 1 June 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  5. ^ Świat Żużla, No 1 (77) 2010, pages 14–15 ISSN 1429-3285
  6. ^ Świat Żużla, No 1 (81) 2010, pages 44–45 ISSN 1429-3285
  7. ^ Houlihan, Owen (2016) "Boss Alun Rossiter is backing Justin Sedgmen to be Swindon Robins' trump card", Swindon Advertiser, 28 January 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  8. ^ Neal, Martin (2012) "Justin Sedgmen quits Redcar Bears", The Gazette, 28 July 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  9. ^ Kinvig, David (2014) "Justin Sedgmen: I aim to be a hero for Monarchs", Edinburgh Evening News, 2 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  10. ^ Sedgmen Wins Gillman Solo Title
  11. ^ 2015 Speedway Grand Prix of Australia results
  12. ^ Darcy Ward Benefit Meeting[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "FOURS CHAMPIONS". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  14. ^ Kinvig, David (2015) "Justin Sedgmen quits the Edinburgh Monarchs", Edinburgh Evening News, 13 November 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  15. ^ Kinvig, David (2016) "Justin Sedgmen admits his Monarchs career is over", Edinburgh Evening News, 19 November 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  16. ^ "Justin Sedgmen wins Jason Crump Invitational at Kurri Kurri Speedway", Maitland Mercury, 27 December 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016
  17. ^ "Speedway – injured trio giving cause for concern". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  18. ^ "British Speedway rider profile". British Speedway. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  19. ^ "Tigers win League Cup". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  20. ^ "lions complete for 23". British Speedway. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Sedgeman returns to Brummies". British Speedway. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Monarchs bring back Sedgmen". British Speedway. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  23. ^ "Sedgmen wins in SA". River 1467. Retrieved 23 February 2024.