Aaron Haby and navigator Chelsea Haby have powered to a commanding four minute lead after two sections on Saturday at the Loveday 400.
 
It was a mixed day for a number of BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship contenders, with results that will no doubt have significant Championship implications heading into the remainder of 2024’s off road racing action.
 
But the day was flawless for the leaders, continuing on from their impressive display in the Transportable Shade Sheds Prologue, the Haby pair put on a show in wet conditions in their Pro Buggy, making the most of home town advantage to charge to the top of the outright leaderboard.
 
“Yeah wow that was pretty awesome. Started off with this morning’s section there, for the two laps we pushed pretty hard as well, so it went really well,” Haby said.

“Chelsea [navigator] couldn’t quite hop back in the car she actually felt sick, but I found another navigator! We pushed pretty hard, kept pushing because we knew the guys behind us, and thought there’s no point backing off yet.”


 
Rodyn Bailey and navigator Dean Ellbourn, also in a Pro Buggy, were second quickest after five laps of the impressive 40km Loveday course.
 
Rounding out the day’s podium was Victorian Joshua Ferguson – his third place finish seeing a Pro Buggy lockout of the top three.


 
It was a much closer finish in the Transportable Sheds SXS Motorsport Australia Championship with the narrowest of margins separating the top two at the end of Saturday.
 
Lachlan Bailey and navigator Nathan Sracek lead the way by just 1.8 seconds in the SXS Pro class ahead of Glen Ackroyd and navigator Michael Price. In third, James Mogford and Michael Mogford ended the day within reach of the pair – a further one minute and 20 seconds down the road.
 
“It’s getting really rough in this thing right now. I think the Maverick R that Glen has is going to hold up in all this rough stuff, so I think we’ll be battling to keep in front of him,” Bailey said.

“We’re in it for the Championship at the moment.”
 

It was a tough day out for a number of key AORC contenders, reigning Champion Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto’s poor run of luck continued after their Finke DNF – the pair suffering a power steering pump issue in section one, unable to rejoin for section two at Loveday.
 
The bad luck also continued for multiple AORC champion Shannon Rentsch – after failing to make it to the start line with a gearbox failure at the Tatts Finke Desert Race, this weekend an engine failure would sideline Rentsch on Saturday.
 
Nick Hicks suffered a big roll over at the final corner much to the amazement of the spectators lined up at the Loveday Tavern.
 
Finke winner Beau Robinson and navigator Shane Hutt remain in a good place for their AORC title bid – a consistent day seeing them end in seventh and bagging a solid haul of points.
 
See the full results here.
 
After one day and 200km of action, the following crews lead the way in the classes as part of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship:
Pro Buggy: Aaron Haby & Chelsea Haby
Prolite: Mel Brandle & Liam Brandle
SportsLite: Paul Tinga & William Daniel Kelsey
Super1650: Joshua Chapman
Extreme 2WD: Brett Comiskey & Corey Cooper
Performance 2WD: Michael Shipton & Paul Chorlton
SXS Pro: Lachlan Bailey & Nathan Sracek
Production 4WD: Norman Parker & Mark Robinson
Extreme 4WD: Philip Lovett & Luke Stanley
 
A further two sections and 200km of racing remain for crews on Sunday, with the action to commence at 8.30am local time at the Loveday 4x4 Adventure Park.