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Competitor Entry Costs
Attention all competitors
With operating pressures which most Australians are observing in general cost-of-living increases
continue to impact individuals, businesses and all organisations, including sporting organisations.
Motorsport Australia & WAORC are certainly not immune to these challenges and cost pressures to
run events. Added to this is the reality of ongoing and significant increases in our operating costs
over recent years. To meet the challenge of these rising costs, WAORC clubs have decided to
increase our 2024 entry fees.
This increase will be applied at the club’s discretion to all WAORC events from 2024 to a Maximum
of $500 including transponder hire, this is an increase from $435. This also includes the 15% MOTOR
SPORT AUSTRALIA increase from 1st Oct 2023.
Without volunteers, sponsors, and donations to help the events along we end up in this position
having to increase the entry fee to cover costs. Over the last five years the ambulance fee has
increased by approximately 50% alone.
We know this won’t be news you want to hear, and it was not a decision we made lightly. However,
when you consider the significant increases in running costs of these events well, we are left with
little choice but to pass these costs on.
WA Off Road Advisory Panel
Massive Field ready for the Perenjori Classic
Once again the McPhee Freight, Gturbo Perenjori Classic has proven to be a popular even for the season opener with a massive 60 entries received. This marks the 3rd consecutive year the event has sold out and been at capacity. Unfortunately a few withdrawals have meant that only 57 competitors will greet the start line but nonetheless a fantastic field will be on track. Headlining the entry list are current Outright Champion Adam Trewhella and multiple time outright champion Jared Percival. They will be for sure locked in a tough battle for supremacy.
There is a strong field of 9 Pro Buggies with some dark horses in amongst them. The Wells Racing team are back with 2 Pro Buggies whilst Kalgoorlies Paul Nappy has also nominated and will be hoping for a good run. Craig Trewhella also makes his return to the drivers seat and Dave Rowett could be a dark horse for the outright win. Mark Cramer and Deon Visagie round out the Pro Buggy field which really is stacked and anyone could take the win
The Prolites will be hoping to knock off their higher horsepower comrades, led by Stephen Ketteridge-Hall who will be the class favourite. Rob Sobczyk will be hoping to hunt him down, but don’t write off Batson or Davis in another closely matched class
Super 1650 see De With, Pacey and Chapman do battle whilst in Sportslite Cj Green and Lee Marsh will be locked in a duel
Performance 2wd will see a pair of Junior Development Program Entries compete for supremacy. In the Extreme 2wd we have a trio of entrants with Richardson, Krepp and Green set to lock horns
The SXS class features a mammoth 25 entrants where its anyone’s game! Caldwell, Bell and Delacy will be 3 of the favourites but there is massive depth and talent in this field. Bush, Nollas, Hansen, Dec and Melling just a few of the competitors expected to run up the front. There are also some junior entrants with Jarrod Sewell and Logan Gill being some of the young and up and coming drivers set to take part in the Classic.
Production 4wd will have Bentink and Taylor battle it out once again. The familiar site of this Toyota vs Nissan battle should be an entertaining one. Extreme 4wd Buggy sees the solitary entrant of Peer Horn take the start
The Extreme 4wd class will be well contested again with a range of experienced and new competitors set to duke it out. Mark Murray, Chris Dawes and Warren Classen being some of the regulars whilst the young Brodie Richardson, the 3rd entry of the WA Off Road Junior Development Program and newcomer Aaron Cassidy make up the rest of the field
Don’t forget you can catch all the action with our live stream for what should be a fantastic race to start the season
Game on!!! Perenjori Entries are open
Game on!!!
Entries are now open for the McPhee Freight, GTurbo Perenjori Classic, Round 1 of the 2024 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship
Read the Supp Regs, enter the event, check out who is already on the list or download the event poster to print or send to your family and friends. Just make sure you get your name on the list to enter Perenjori for what will be one hell of a race!
2023 Final Points
Final Points for the 2023 WAORC are now live. Congratulations to all the class and outright drivers and navigators who have won their respective championships. Check out the full results here
Outright Champions
1st – Adam Trewhella & Koby Grant
2nd – Jared Percival & John Simmons
3rd – Troy Higgins & Brendan Baxter
Pro Buggy – Adam Trewhella & Koby Grant
Prolite – Ryan Print & Brendan Baxter
Super 1650 Pieter De Wit & Corne De Wit
Extreme 2wd – Karl Richardson & Chloe Richardson
Performance 2wd – Sean Beck & Uwe Kreusch
SXS Pro – Murray Kifer & Kelly Thomas
Production 4wd – Graeme Bentink & Trinity Stacey
Extreme 4wd – Mathew Beck & Brody Richardson
Extreme 4wd Buggy – Peer Horn & Aleen Haddad
Competitors who did not enter and start at least 3 events are not eligible to win their class championship. Points leaders in Class (not competed 3 events as per 12(ii) of sporting regs)
SXS Sport – Jack Barnewall & Luke Barnewall
Sportslite – Wayne Holt
2023 WAORC Points Update – Trewhella Champion Elect
Adam Trewhella has claimed his second consecutive outright WAORC crown with 1 round to spare. A solid 2nd place at Three Springs enough to see him claim the championship again, meaning that he has a free license at Kalgoorlie to have a crack at the national field. Jared Percival currently sits in 2nd with Murray Kifer in 3rd, just ahead of last start winner Troy Higgins
Amongst all the classes there are some fascinating battles for class honors that are to be played out. In particular Performance 2wd sees Simon Jones and Sean Beck locked together in a dual. Whilst Beck will also have one eye on the AORC Performance 2wd crown, Jones has his sole focus on taking out the WA Championship for Performance 2WD
SXS Pro is comfortable the closest class battle though. Murray Kifer and Friday Boyce split by just 30 points after 4 rounds of racing. Whilst they are happily sat in first and second, they also need to be wary of Paul Delacey, who despite recording 0 points for the Gas Dash round is still well within striking distance. The points system of the 4 best results of the 5 round series counting certainly adding some spice and intrigue to the final round
Full points can be found here
Champs rise to the top
Following on from Round 3 of the WAORC, it is a former WAORC Champion and the current WAORC Champion who are sitting on top. Adam Trewhella has enjoyed a stellar season defending the WA1 title, with Jared Percival sitting in 2nd. Percival may have some extra sting in the back end of the year, with the ever trusty Prolite being moved on in favor of a brand new Element Pro Buggy. Will this be enough for Percival to close down the 11 point lead that Trewhella has amassed so far?
Trewhella also leads from Higgins in the Pro Buggy class, with father and son Craig and Marcus Wells duking it out in a close battle for 3rd in Pro Buggy. Jared Percival holds a solid lead in Prolite, however his move to Pro Buggy may leave the door open for Rob Sonczyk, George Metaxas or Stephen Ketteridge-Hall to challenge for a class title.
Sportslite is also delicately poised, Wayne Holt being the man they are all chasing after a strong Bencubbin race. Super 1650 have Steve Pacey leading from Pieter De Wit whilst in Extreme 2wd Karl Richardson has a lead of almost 1 whole event
Sean Beck has the mighty Kingswood sitting pretty in the Performance 2wd points ahead of Simon Jones Whilst brother Matthew Beck also leads the Extreme 4wd class. Graeme Bentink has the Gturbo Landcruiser at the front of the Performance 4wd class whilst Peer Horn is the leader of the Extreme 4wd Buggies
In SXS Pro a massive 31 contenders have scored points in this years championship race. At the front is Murray Kifer who also sits in 3rd outright. Friday Boyce is breathing down his neck whilst Jono Hansen is a solid 3rd in class
As we head to Three Springs, each section is going to be critical for championship points. A full breakdown of the points is available here
Robinson claims 2023 AORC Championship
2023 will go down in the history books as a massive year for Western Australian Off Road Racing. Travis Robinson with navigator Andrew Pinto becoming the first ever team from Western Australia to take out the Australian Off Road Racing Championship Outright. Over the years many have tried and come so close and this push for off road racing glory at the top level often being spearheaded by the Robinson family and Outer Bounds Racing.
Adorned in a retro tribute livery to Travis late father Brian, Robinsons feat of winning the AORC should not be underestimated, overcoming stiff competition from top level crews all around Australia as well as the tyranny of distance. For 2023 this was even more extreme with Travis having made several trips across the country including a mammoth 4,772km trip one way from Perth to Charters Towers to start his championship charge. Consistency and podium finishes being a hall mark of a very mature campaign by Robinson in 2023 as well as the never give up attitude that personifies the spirit of off road racing allowing the lucky #13 to earn the right to be Aus #1 in 2024.
Whilst cooling issues held the Jimco back early on in the weekend in what was a challenging race at Loveday, Robinson charged back through the field and his 4th outright position secured him the outright title with 1 round to spare. Making the weekend even better was the WA Off Road Junior Development Program having their first interstate trip and Sean Beck and Daniel Fahey making it count when it mattered to win the Performance 2wd class for the round. This result should vault the ever popular Kingswood right into title contention for a class win come seasons end. A win in class would see them join a small but highly esteemed group of WA competitors to have taken home AORC championships
Australian Off Road Championship Outright Champions from WA
2023 – Travis Robinson & Andrew Pinto
Previous Australian Off Road Championship Class Champions from WA
2017 – Travis Robinson & Trent Anthony – Pro Buggy
2014 – Beau Robinson & Ken Skinner – Extreme 2wd
2008 – Russell Cullen – Extreme 4wd
2005 – Darian Smith & Gerry Smith – Performance 2wd
2009 – Peter Kozak & Paul Coci – Performance 2wd
2015 – Jason Galea & Markus Christie – Production 4wd
Previous Australian Off Road Tri Series Champions from WA
2010 – Brian Robinson (Outright)
2009 – Travis Robinson (Pro Buggy Class)
The Champ goes back to back at Perenjori
The 2023 McPhee Freight, Gturbo Perenjori 360 will go down in the record books as a hotly contested race with many twists and turns right through to the final lap. A record field of 60 entrants turned into only 55 starters after a few withdrawals and competitors with issues during the leadup to the race. Amongst the field we had former state champions and former race winners such as Trewhella, Percival and Uren whilst a whole heap more contenders such as Ketteridge-Hall, Higgins, Sobcyzk and the Wells Racing Team looked set to make this a battle to the finish
Prologue was sponsored by JohnDec Plastics & Lemonis/Tantirpasut Lawyers with $300 to the winner, whilst 2nd and 3rd would take home $200 and $100 respectively. It was Troy Higgins in the beautifully presented GET Buggy which would clock in quickest, a time 6 seconds better than current state champion, Adam Trewhella. Harleigh Uren running a Pro Truck would move himself into 3rd with Stephen Ketteridge-Hall flying the flag for the Prolites in 4th. Jayden Grewar showed his pace, putting the RAW Racing SXS Pro into 5th outright whilst other class leaders were Graeme Bentink in PRoduction 4wd, Pieter De Wit in Performance 2wd, Scott Bryce in Extreme 4wd Buggy, Daniel Jones in Extreme 4wd, Simon Jones in Performance 2wd and Aaron Gates being the fastest Sportslite
Saturday afternoon would see a single 80km lap to be the task ahead of the teams. Whilst Higgins lead from start to finish, he wouldn’t clock in the quickest time, that honor going to Adam Trewhella, showing he had pace on the long run. Stephen Ketteridge-Hall signalled his intentions early, firing his was into 2nd, whilst Higgins would have to settle for 3rd. One of the early pacesetter Uren dropped out with mechanical issues as Brad Krepp moved the Terra Racing Extreme 2wd to 4th as he took over the class lead. Alex Davies set a blistering time, 5th outright and now the new SXS Pro class leader over Grewar who was 40 seconds back. Scott Bryce was another big mover, up 26 positions to 10th in his Extreme 4wd Buggy. Graeme Bentink continued to be impressive in the Gturbo Production 4wd, moving up to 18th outright whilst Aaron Gates, Pieter De Wit and Simon Jones continued to lead their classes. Warren Claasen took over the Extreme 4wd class lead as the field was narrowed down to just 44 competitors. Kodi Clayden rolled his SXS Pro and despite a valiant effort to try fix the buggy, would be unable to restart the following day
As the sun rose on Sunday morning, conditions were almost perfect. The cooler morning air and slight breeze would be in play for 2 laps of the 80km course. Trewhella took this as an opportunity to stamp his authority on the event, flying around the track over a minute quicker on each lap to extend his lead at the front. Higgins also pushed, making up time and overtaking Ketteridge-Hall to move into 2nd outright after setting the 2nd quickest time. Ketteridge-Hall would drop to 3rd, whilst behind him Paul Delacey had a dream run in his SXS Pro to set the 4th quickest time. Karl Richardson was one of the tales of woe, breaking an axle on the start line, which was then repaired and allowed him to complete a lap before running out of late running time. Meanwhile, Percival and Sobczyck were locked in a tight battle, trading lap times and moving their way up the field. Bryce’s solid run came to an end allowing Peer Horn to take over the Extreme 4wd Buggy Class lead. Graeme Bentink once again clocked very impressive lap times putting his Production 4wd 200 Series into the top 10 on times. Simon Jones, maintained his lead in Performance 2wd, as did Warren Claasen in Extreme 4wd. Aaron Gates also continued to lead the Sportslite class, however a slow second lap hampering his progress through the field.
In the final section, again 2 laps it would all change at the front. Whilst Trewhella was untouchable, Higgins left the line and developed an engine misfire, only making it 1km before having to pull out of the race. Ketteridge-Hall moved up into 2nd, but not for long as he also suffered engine dramas. Warren Claasen did not finish in his Extreme 4wd Navara and Simon Jones was another to drop out of the race after leading Performance 2wd all weekend. This meant it was all change throughout the field as just 24 teams finished the full race distance. Trewhella took a well deserved outright and Pro Buggy win, whilst Rob Soczyk finished in 2nd outright and 1st in Prolite. Mr Consistency, Jared Percival rounded out the outright podium. Paul Delacey came in 4th outright in his SXS Pro and in doing so claimed a $1000 payday with the SXS class being sponsored by InterEarth due to its lower emissions nature. Graeme Bentink pulled off a miracle run, getting his Production 4wd home in 7th outright. Peer Horn claimed the Extreme 4wd Buggy class win, whilst Matthew Beck finished in the Top 20 and also won the Extreme 4wd class. Matching his brothers efforts, Sean Beck also sealed a class win in the Performance 2wd Kingswood, making it 2 class wins out of 2 for the WA Off Road Junior Development Program. Whilst not completing all laps, the other class winners were Aaron Gates in Sportslite, Pieter DeWit in Super 1650 and Karl Richardson in Extreme 2wd
Full results can be found here
The WAORC now looks forward to the Gascoyne Dash for Round 2 of the series and if Round 1 was anything to go by, it is set to be a cracking race!
Race Track GPS file available
In a first for off road racing in Western Australia, a GPS file of the race track is being made publicly available to race teams ahead of the event. With the event organizers recording a lap of the track using the LeadNav app, we can now release the GPX file so that competitors may choose to use this on reconnaissance. Alternatively, they may also choose to map the track themselves, but this is an option which we would like to receive feedback on to see if it is of use in future events and years
Please note that this GPS recording was taken on an Ipad not using the external GPS Aerial and as such, competitors should verify its accuracy prior to using it at race pace. We also note that no cautions or other markers were added, so this is purely just a location map
Download of the GPX file can be found here
Trewhella Joins Fuel Burna Motorsport for WA Title Defence
Defending Western Australian Offroad Champion Adam Trewhella has announced he will be joining forces with Mark Cramer at Fuel Burna Motorsport in 2023, sponsored by the Cramer’s owned business Make Tracks WA. Perth based Trewhella is set to launch his title defence this weekend at the Perenjori 360 in the teams Rimco Pro Buggy, where he will proudly display his new teams livery.
On the back of an outstanding 2022 season which saw Trewhella secure back to back outright victories at Perenjori and Bencubbin, plus a second outright at the iconic Gas Dash, the newest member of Fuel Burna Motorsport has reason to be confident heading into the season opener.
“I started out last year really just wanting seat time, to get to know the car and to finish a few races, I picked up outright victory’s in the first two events, with my dad Craig as the navigator at Perenjori which was special for the team and a 2nd overall at the Gascoyne Dash. Which was enough for us to claim the championship,” exclaimed Trewhella.
Makes Tracks WA is regarded as Perth’s leading 4WD accessories supplier and fitter, a brand Trewhella and crew are delighted to be representing throughout this season after their breakout 2022 campaign. “This year is pretty much more of the same, I just love driving the car. We would obviously like to defend the number 1 plate in WA, but at the same time to finish some races and get a few podiums will be a good result for us”.
Trewhella’s success last year and scheduled title defence in 2023 would not be possible without his amazing sponsors who have all contributed immensely to their racing endeavours. Firstly, to the major sponsors Koby and Sandee Grant at KRT Contracting, Shane and Jody Elphinstone at Elphinstone Mechanical Services and Shannon at Tunecorp who has built and tuned Trewhella’s new 402 cube combo engine which is set to unleashed on Saturday. Also to the minor sponsors Racer Imports, Penrite, Jarrahfire Drilling, Luke Erceg at Erceg Custom Engineering and Borneo’s Race Prep for their ongoing support and commitment.
Fuel Burna Motorsport’s Adam Trewhella is locked in for all five rounds of the WA offroad championship in 2023 alongside new full time navigator and major sponsor Koby Grant, kickstarting this weekend as the defending champion at the Perenjori 360.
Photos by Dakar Press Team Australia
Story by Toby Cooper
Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship 
