Elphinstone in charge at Kalgoorlie 400

Posted on July 9, 2016

Shane and Curt Elphinstone are in charge as the sun sets on Day 1 of the Kalgoorlie 400, Round 4 of the 2016 CAMS, PGS Industries WAORC. The days racing kicked off in tricky conditions with rain, wind and a greasy track putting the competitors to the test. Normally run in dry and dusty conditions, the weather made for a big change on previous years events. The Western Desert Racers club have pulled out all stops to ensure the event runs smoothly, creating new sections of track, reshaping old tracks and creating an all new pit area and start finish line, with awesome spectator views.

The 15km prologue threw up many challenges with Steven Knowles the first victim, failing to finish the prologue with steering issues only 300m from the finish line. The #44 Pro Buggy of Shane and Curt Elphinstone would wind up quickest, smashing the rest of the field to take the prologue by nearly 40 seconds. Prolite man Brett Smith was second fastest ahead of Undecided Racings Darren Agrela, with Brad Cooper home in 4^th in his Mickey Thompson sponsored BAT Pro Buggy. Adam Flanagan was flying the flag for the trucks, entertaining the crowd on his way to fifth outright and 1^st in Extreme 2wd. Super 1650 driver and Kalgoorlie local Jeremy Lia punched his way into 6^th outright, with Brad Close taking 1^st in class for the superlites and sitting in 8^th outright. Russell Cullen lead the Extreme 4wd class in 9^th outright, just ahead of Graeme Bentink in his G Turbo sponsored LandCruiser who was leading Production 4wd

Section 1 was to be a 1 hour shootout, with competitors vying to complete the most amount of laps in the allotted time, there was action right from the start. Brad Cooper was the first to drop out of contention, steering issues halting the #968 machine and dropping him out of contention. Darren Agrela was on the move, passing Brett Smith for 2^nd outright and setting about trying to reel in early leader Shane Elphinstone. In the class battles Jeremy Lia was pushing many of the much more fancied buggies, slotting himself into first in Super 1650 and 4^th outright. Adam Flanagan pushed his Extreme 2wd truck to the limits and was rewarded with the class lead and 5^th outright. Brad Close continued to lead Superlite, despite running out of fuel. Graeme Bentink holds a strong lead of just over a minute, whilst Leigh Cooper seized the Extreme 4wd lead from Russell Cullen on his way to 12^th outright. At the end of the section only 5 cars successfully completed 2 laps, with Steven Knowles the quickest to only complete 1 lap in his prolite sitting in 6th.

Heading into day 2 the top trio of Elphinstone, Agrela and Smith will be looking to push home the advantage and seal some valuable class points. Sundays racing will see 2 sections, each 2 hours long where competitors again will try and complete the most number of laps of the 35km course. Live results are available at http://my6.raceresult.com/56925/results?lang=en For more information follow www.facebook.com/westausorc or www.waorc.com