New Zealand pairing Boston Morgan-Horan and Will Haddock have emerged fastest in Section One of the 2025 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race.

In windy and dusty conditions on Saturday, Kiwi firebrand Morgan-Horan narrowly edged out his nearest rival, Travis Robinson, by a mere seven seconds over the 121km track distance. He finished with a time of 1:07:19.6.

Robinson comes into the Kalgoorlie weekend with a commanding lead in the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC), and has insisted he is regularly thinking big picture about title permutations with his driving style.

Starting from second, Morgan-Horan battled through Robinson’s dust to eek out the small advantage on Saturday. Significantly, the result means Morgan-Horan will be spared the dust by starting from the front when Section Two of the event commences early Sunday morning.

“It was fun and very slidey, there was definitely a lot of powdery dust out there,” Morgan-Horan said.

“We’ve got nothing to lose this weekend but I’d like to finish the weekend. So far this year we’ve only finished one event.

“I want to go out there and have fun on Sunday. That’s my plan.”

Coming home in third place outright on Saturday was Western Australian local Brent Smoothy, who has reached a purple patch in form both this weekend and at the previous AORC stop at St George 399.

Smoothy was optimistic about his hopes for a podium on Sunday, even citing a potential to go third outright in the AORC championship should things fall his way.

“We had a good run and it was a good day out there,” Smoothy said.

“There’s a bit of a home advantage, there was some rough stuff and fast stuff so it suits the trucks. It’s a bit of a home-grown advantage and being 4WD it helps us with the bulldust and the silt in WA.

“We had some teething problems with atmosphere and different stuff when this truck came to Australia, it was really the first of its kind out here. But the guys in America have been working with us to fix those and now the truck feels great.

“There is a slim chance there that we could nab third in the Championship, we’re here to have a crack at it.”

Further back, Todd Lehmann and Tanner James finished outright fourth and were the first of the Pro Buggy entries home. Meanwhile, Jared Percival and Darren Agrela – currently third-placed in the AORC standings – finished fifth in Section One.

In the Motorsport Australia SXS Championship, Glen Ackroyd and navigator Michael Price put on a clinic to emerge fastest of the category – some 90 seconds clear of their nearest rival – and for good reason.

Ackroyd arrives in Kalgoorlie running third in the championship and has some points to bridge between he and Lachlan Bailey and Greg Campbell, who are first and second in the championship respectively.

“It was good out there, we got about one-third of the way before hitting the dust, and then it was dusty for the rest of the lap. Other than that the track was good fun,” Ackroyd said.

“We’ll try and stay in front of Lachie on Sunday, definitely. If we can, we will stay in front – that’s the goal.

“The track will chop out and get worse and worse over the weekend. But it will definitely be good fun.”

Ackroyd’s navigator Price added: “Navigating is really important because you can’t see a thing. You just rely on what I’m telling him, how many metres before a corner and when I say ‘turn’, he turns.”

Bailey and navigator Jordan Zollo did enough to secure second in Section One, while Daniel Challen and Kylie Dennis finished third of the AORC entries.

Challen is marking history in Kalgoorlie this weekend as he competes in both the car and motorcycle events.

“I’m racing both the buggy and the bike this weekend, so it should be interesting,” said the Northern Territory-based competitor. “You’re travelling a long way so I thought why not, I like the track and I enjoy the event.

“It meant I knew what to expect going out in the car, having been out already on the bike.

“The body’s getting a bit stiff, it will be interesting to see how we pull up tomorrow.”

All the action at the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race recommences with Section Two of the car from 6:40am AWST on Sunday morning. The bikes category will then complete their final section before the cars embark on their third and final lap at 1:20pm AWST.

As always, you can stay up to date on the latest AORC news and results via the AORC website, social channels and YouTube.