Luke Erceg has claimed his first ever Symons-Clark Logistics Richard Bennett Memorial Enduro after a thrilling round in Parilla.
 
A field of 32 crews were entered in the event, completing 288 competitive kilometres over the course of 16 laps and three sections.
 
Behind the wheel of a Nissan VQ35 Prolite, Erceg’s consistency and management of a car that had let him down in previous years were the key ingredients behind his victory.
 
Although highly consistent, Erceg was never in the clear throughout the weekend as the eventual runner-up crew of Matt and Gary Curtis finished just 21 seconds behind them.
  
Rounding out the podium almost four minutes behind Curtis were Chris and Cooper Western – the duo holding off South Australian stars Brenton and Matthew Gallasch in fourth and winning the Pro class in the process.

 
The only other Queensland crew attending the event was made up of Kevy, Jackson and Sarah Nott, who finished in fifth in their last event in Australia before heading off to Baja later this year.
 
Click here to view full results.
 
With Saturday’s action spread into two sections that were split into three separate heats, Erceg finished his heat in fifth, 20 seconds behind the second placed Curtis, while the standout winner was Aaron James, who was faster than Curtis by more than one minute. 
 
The event was turned on its head in the second section when James broke down, which opened up the door for Fitzgerald, Erceg and the rest of the competition. 
 
In the second section, Andrew Fitzgerald won the heat over Curtis, David Hall and Erceg while Curtis still held a small outright lead of one second over the section winner.
 
Entering Sunday in fourth place, Erceg was aided by Fitzgerald’s DNF on lap two and Hall’s flat tyre in his charge past Curtis after going faster on the day’s first four laps.
 

Although Curtis won some laps of his own in the section’s second half, it was too late as Erceg powered home to win the race in his 15th attempt in 20 years – an emotional moment for the driver who had special ties to the event. 
 
“I have been doing this event for so long and I have been trying to win it outright for at least 15 years,” Erceg said.
 
“My best friend Brett Zeimbinski passed away 12 years ago, and the navigator award is named in his honour, so to be able to win the event that is honouring him along with Richard is truly special.
 
“I was very emotional crossing the line because I had been trying for so long and to be able to finally do it was amazing. I am absolutely stoked.
 
“It was one of those weekends where nothing went wrong, and the car was mint. Everything has seemed to click since we sorted our engine in the off season so I can fault the far.
 

“It was a bit touch and go but I knew I was beating David heading into lunch of the final day and because the track is brutal, I knew if I got to the end with zero issues, it was going to be close.
 
“We had consistent speed and good management and it’s a nice feeling knowing that was what helped us win. Aaron’s breakdown opened up the door for all of us and I guess my consistency helped me get the win.”
 
There were plenty of class winners in the top 10 including Victorians Josh Gaskin Evan Lampar who grabbed sixth and the Sportslite Class win, the eighth placed Lachlay Bailey alongside sister Hannah and father Roydn secured the Superlite B class and the 10th placed Nick Burt the fastest of the Extreme 2WD cars with Alexander Burt. 
 
Other notable results saw Simon and Lucy Tucker win the Super 1650 class and Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton win the Performance 2WD class.