Aaron Haby has continued his 2011 winning streak, racing the Element Southern Cross #57 into second outright by putting down consistent lap times and having a flawless weekends racing.Thirds outright and banking a swag of Australian Off Road Championship points was the True Build Racing entry of Dan Auricht and Grant Connelly, over a minute behind Haby and three minutes in front of Mark Burrows and Colin Hodge #21 in fourth.
Rounding out the top five for today’s racing was Matt Coleman and Shawn Teagle in the Alpha #55 Pro buggy. The father and son team of Wes and Bill Cowie in the #104 Jimco finished in sixth overall and secured first in class for ProLite buggy.
After pitting at the completion of lap 5, while sitting in third outright, to change a power steering pump, Carl Haby and Brenton Gallasch drove the #56 Element Off Road S&S Race Frame Pro buggy into seventh outright, only seconds ahead of Greg Gartner and Jamie Jennings who did an astounding job to bring their Ford F150 home in eight place. Gartner suffered a dramatic roll over at the last round of the Championship and it’s a credit to his commitment to the sport that he was able to regroup and get back out on the track.
Aaron James and Brett Plant #128 finished in ninth outright, twenty seconds off Gartner’s time and nearly three minutes head of Chris Western and Stewy Bishop in the Mickey Thompson Tires Off Road Rush Truck #401.
The interesting twist as far as Australian Off Road Championship leader board is concerned, the #57 of Aaron Haby, the #21 of Mark Burrows and the #56 of Carl Haby are not registered for the AORC points, thus moving Auricht into second and Coleman into third for the allocation of points. This leaves the championship wide open, and although Fellows now sits on 63 points, 23 ahead of Auricht, the #1 plate for 2011 is by no means a foregone conclusion, and the #2 and #3 crowns will be hotly contested at the final round.