Debuting a new V8 trophy truck formerly driven by Brent Smoothy, the Kiwi sensation wasted no time in laying down his authority on the tight, technical Loveday layout, finishing with a time of 3:47.28 minutes – three seconds clear of the next-best pairing of Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt.
Rounding out the top three outright honours was Loveday local Toby Whateley with a time of 3:53.04 minutes.
The Method Race Wheels Prologue sets the running order for Saturday’s Section One at the Loveday 400, and for Morgan-Horan, it capped a frenetic six-week stretch following his second place finish at the Finke Desert Race in June.
“We’ve had a long week getting the truck ready. The boys have been hard at it, they didn’t sleep overnight and they left Adelaide at 8.30am this morning and got here at 1pm. It was a mammoth effort to get me here,” said Morgan-Horan.
“I had a little blat in the pit area just warming it up, and then just jumped at the start line and away I went. I had no clue what to expect and I had thought it was a pretty untidy lap but it worked out good for me.
“There’s a lot of difference: it’s four-wheel drive, it’s left-hand drive and it’s much bigger. There were a lot of different variables but it seemed to work out.”
Morgan-Horan sat fourth in the Comiskey Mining Services Motorsport Australia Off Road championship leading into the weekend, however with title front-runner Hayden Bentley a late omission at Loveday and third-place Travis Robinson announcing his retirement after Finke, the 100 points scored by Boston in Prologue elevates him to second.
Ahead of Saturday, just 22 points separates Morgan-Horan and leading the AORC title race.
Loveday is a happy hunting ground for Morgan-Horan, who says his New Zealand upbringing usually favours the tighter, technical layout.
“New Zealand is really tight and twisty and that’s where I learned to drive. This is about the same but when it ruts up it does one line so it becomes about who can carry the most pace,” he said.
“The aim is to learn the truck and hopefully take some good points to Kalgoorlie. That’s the plan.”
Elsewhere in the outright honours it was Brad Gallard who took fourth, followed by Roydn Bailey, Todd Lehmann and Nicholas Hicks.
Lachlan Bailey and Jordon Zollo were the best of the SXS competitors in eighth outright, as the South Australian tries to claw back valuable points lost to SXS championship leader Glen Ackroyd following a costly mechanical fault at Finke.
Bailey managed a time of 4:00.77mins in his Maverick R, while Ackroyd was three places further back outright in 11th with a time of 4:03.39 minutes.
“It was good to get a good finish again. It’s a driver’s track here and it’s a track that suits my style. I really enjoy it, it’s my favourite track,” Bailey said.
“It’s a great layout for SXS machines, especially until it gets rough – then the bigger cars come into their own. While its smooth, the SXS are the pick.
“The plan for Saturday is to do our thing and try and get around as fast as we can. We won’t make any silly mistakes.
“I’m not too fussed about points at this point. We will just see where we end on Sunday. We’ll just finish and see what happens.”
Elsewhere, Supercars legend Craig Lowndes and navigator Dale Moscatt will be seeded for Section one after failing to complete their Prologue lap.
All the action at the Loveday 400 continues with Section One on Saturday.
