Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt have fired the first shots in the 2024 BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) finale, clinching Friday’s Prologue at the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race.
In a challenging day which saw temperatures at the Kalgoorlie event near 40 degrees before a sudden afternoon downpour, Robinson and Hutt topped the Transportable Shade Sheds Prologue with a stellar 12:13.9 time aboard their Extreme 2WD Trophy Truck.
Remarkably, that time was a mere 0.6 seconds clear of second father-and-son Prolite pairing Mel and Liam Brandle, who currently lead Robinson and Hutt in the AORC standings after four rounds.
While Brandle tackled the 13.46km Prologue track in dry conditions, Robinson went out about 10 minutes after a heavy afternoon storm.
Reigning AORC champions Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto finished third in Prologue aboard their Pro Buggy after being caught in the downpour at the end of their run, 11 seconds further back from Brandle.
The result means Beau Robinson will be first out during Saturday’s opening 121km section of the Kalgoorlie Desert Race on Saturday morning.
Click here to see a full list of results.
According to the West Aussie, the Prologue win gives him a vital opportunity to chase down the 216-point championship deficit to Brandle.
“With that big downpour, the conditions were surprisingly slippery in parts, so we lost a bit of time on sections of the track,” Robinson said.
“We were very conscious of staying on the track as much as we could with it being so slippery. It’s good to be up front, especially with so much dust likely to be around tomorrow.”
The fifth and final round of the 2024 AORC season, the Kalgoorlie event holds extra significance in this year’s title race, with a ‘points and a half’ scoring system on offer for crews. Across the weekend there will be 900 points on offer for the round winner in both the AORC and SXS Championships.
Although Mel Brandle leads the championship heading into the weekend, the South Australian remains philosophical about the title race – and says he will be taking the weekend lap by lap.
“To start from second is incredible,” said Brandle. “We’ve just got to go out there and do our best. With ‘points and a half’ anything can happen so we’re not counting our chickens.
“My plan for Saturday is to put the helmet on and do what we do. Just see what the result is after the first lap. Sit down, assess and see what’s going on. We know Beau is very good here.”
With the national round also doubling as the finale of the Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship, a host of locals also featured in Friday’s Prologue top ten.
Among them, WA’s Stephen Ketteridge-Hall and Haylee Cowling came home fourth, while Kiwi pairing Boston Morgan-Horan and Fergus Crabb secured fifth.
In the Transportable Shade Sheds SXS Championship, it was Glen Ackroyd and Michael Price that stormed to the front with a blistering 12:53.5 time, ensuring they start from sixth outright.
Currently third in the SXS Championship, Ackroyd finished an impressive 41 seconds ahead of SXS title leader James Mogford and Michael Mogford, who will start from 15th in Kalgoorlie.
Also in the SXS Championship hunt in third after four rounds are Glenn Brinkman and Jacci Hughes, who start from 23rd in Kalgoorlie.
The Kalgoorlie event will be run across more than 350 kilometres and two days of racing this weekend, in a shared format between cars and bikes.
The first car section of the Kalgoorlie Desert Race takes place on Saturday morning, squeezing in between two bike sections.
On Sunday, the formula will be reversed, with two car laps bookending one bike lap in between.
Fans can follow the event section by section via the AORC results page and social channels, or track the cars via RallySafe.
The Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race takes place in Kalgoorlie on 24-28 October.
Kalgoorlie Desert Race timetable
Saturday 26 October:
7:00am Bikes lap 1 - 121km
10:10am Cars Lap 1 - 121km
1:20pm Bikes Lap 2 - 121km
Sunday 27 October:
7:00am Cars Lap 2 - 121km
10:10am Bikes Lap 3 - 121km
1:20pm Cars Lap 3 - 121km
*All times in AWST
Images: Dakar Press Team Australia