The 2020 Motorsport Australia WA Off Road Championship (WAORC) season has finally resumed with a huge second round in Three Springs seeing Jake Clucas take out a thrilling victory.
More than 40 crews were entered in the unforgiving Inland Mechanical Three Springs 360, the first WAORC event since the G Turbo Rod Hatter Memorial Perenjori 360 in March, and just 25 crews were able finish at least one section.
After coming so close to victory in the season opener, Clucas was on a mission to grab his first ever career win and did so in dramatic fashion after finishing the six-lap event just one and half minutes ahead of Brad Cooper and Arron Smithson.
Clucas started the event with a sixth place in Prologue, three places ahead of Cooper, before moving to the top of the field within the first section after a number of the crews ahead of him suffered issues during the first two laps.
The event was essentially won in the second section with Clucas recording the fastest section time outright of the weekend, while Cooper and Smithson replaced Colin Bevan and Michael Dodds in second place after middle two laps.
The fast charging Cooper and Smithson then did everything they could to take the fight right to the end, with the Pro Buggy drivers comfortably winning the final section by more than two minutes.
However with Clucas in second place, it was too little too late for Cooper and Smithson as the Pro Buggy class winners settled for an impressive runner-up finish behind a well-deserved winner in Clucas.
Despite suffering mechanical issues on the final section, Clucas was thrilled to claim his first outright WAORC victory.
“It was a really good feeling to win this race. IT was my eighth race ever and first real win,” Clucas said.
“I was actually pretty comfortable throughout the whole race. I was in a good vibe because it’s my favourite track. I was really looking forward to it for ages and I am thrilled it worked out the way it was supposed to.
“Normally I nurse the car and just try to finish events, but as soon as I found myself up front, I decided to go hammer down and just gave it. But then I dropped down to four cylinders from six in the final section and had to nurse it then.
“It was pretty touch and go towards the end, especially when I saw Brad coming towards me, so I had to get it going again, which I was a little lucky to get it.
“I am really looking forward to Kalgoorlie. All I think I need to do is just finish there and I should I win the state title, but I need to spend lots of time in the shed between now and then.”
Rounding out the top three a further six minutes behind Cooper and Smithson were the SXS Turbo class winning pairing of Jason Galea and Kiera Mann-Piercy, while Clucas came away with the Pro-Lite class win.
Other class winners saw the ninth placed Bernard Holt win the Sportslite class and Extreme 4WD winners Peer Horn and Trinity Stacey finish in 13th outright, just one place ahead of Performance 2WD winners, Sean Beck and Daniel Fahey.
With round one victor Colin Doney and runner-up Jarrod Percival both not getting any points during the Inland Mechanical Three Springs 360, Clucas now moves to the top of the outright WAORC standings.
The final round of the 2020 Motorsport Australia WA Off Road Championship will be the highly anticipated Kalgoorlie Desert Race on 23-25 October, which will also act as part of the newly formed Motorsport Australia West Australian Off Road Cup.