BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship leader Travis Robinson and navigator Paul Currie have continued their scintillating run of form, finishing fastest in Friday Prologue at the 2025 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race.
In warm and windy conditions, Robinson and Currie executed to a tee on the 21km Prologue course – finishing with a time of 10:23.9, ensuring they start Saturday’s opening Section with clear air ahead.
Kiwi sensation Boston Morgan-Horan and navigator Will Haddock were next best, some 25 seconds behind Robinson, while the Pro Buggy entry of Dylan Nollas and Matthew Boath secured third.
“It was a bit of a sloppy run for the first half and then we got our stuff together to get it back in line for the second half,” Robinson said.
“We’ve got a dark place we can got to in an off road car if we really need too. But this weekend is a game to get the thing to the finish. We want to get it to the finish and wrap the championship for the family.
“We’ll be in championship mode in the morning. We will simply stick to our groove and get the thing to the finish line.”
Kalgoorlie Prologue was less kind to Travis Robinson’s brother Beau, who currently sits second in the AORC standings. He and navigator Shane Hutt started strongly before enduring a power steering failure about midway through Prologue and failing to finish. The result means they will need to be seeded for Saturday’s opening Section.
Meanwhile, third-placed Championship rival Jared Percival secured fourth overall in Prologue aboard his Pro Buggy to ensure he remains mathematically in contention.
With a points-and-a-half scoring system in place across the Kalgoorlie weekend, the onus is on competitors to deliver every time they’re behind the wheel.
That is particularly the case for the ultra-competitive Motorsport Australia SXS Championship. There, Glen Ackroyd and Michael Price fired the first salvo for the weekend, topping the class and securing 17th overall. Currently third in the Championship following a huge end-to-end rollover in St George, Ackroyd managed to get the upper hand on SXS Championship leaders Lachlan Bailey, who finished second in class and will start from 18th outright.
Roughly three seconds separated the pair, who have gone back-and-forth in the SXS Championship throughout the year.
Greg Campbell – who sits second in the SXS Championship heading into the Kalgoorlie event – finished seventh fastest in the class and will start Saturday’s Section One from 29th outright.
“I just went out there and had some fun, thought I would go for it,” Ackroyd said.
“The dust will be bad tomorrow, so to finish as the first SXS today is very important.
“The track will get rougher on Sunday, so it’s important to go as far up the order as we can while it’s relatively smooth.”
Ackroyd and Price’s entry to the Kalgoorlie Desert Race finale comes as something of a surprise, having written off their Maverick R machine in the incident in St George. They managed to find a replacement car and get it prepared in time for the Kalgoorlie event.
According to Ackroyd, the points-and-a-half scoring opportunity was too good to overlook.
“I made the decision about two weeks after St George,” Ackroyd explained.
“The new feels exactly the same as the old car. We’ve got a good base [that we can defer to with the Maverick R], definitely.”
All the action at the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race recommences on Saturday morning, with the 94-strong Cars field getting their opening 121km section underway from 10am AWST.
As always, stay up to date with the latest news via the AORC website, social channels and YouTube.
