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King of the West is crowned
The 2019 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race has provided an exciting finale to the 2019 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship. A high quality field of 43 Trophy Trucks, Buggies, SXS’s and Tin Tops suited up for a blast through the red dirt of the Kalgoorlie Goldfields
Friday night the event kicked off with the Silver Lake Resources KDR Street Party. With all of the vehicles as well as bikes filing through and filling out the main street of town, the atmosphere was one of excitement. It would only take one look down the rows of shining vehicles parked up on Hannan street to see that this field of competitors were going to throw it down hard when prologue came around on Saturday morning. Adding to the Western Australian competitors and WAORC regulars were Ben Erceg in his Sportslite from South Australia as well as Brent Smoothy in his immaculate Geiser Bros Trophy Truck and Corey Howell who was having his first run on Australian soil in the Fast1A Razorback Pro Buggy.
Saturday morning started bright and early with prologue and it was Beau Robinson who landed the first punch, setting a blistering time nearly 20 second clear of the next competitors. 2nd would go to Shane Elphinstone with Scott Schiller less than 1 second behind in 3rd. Some noteable performances in prologue include young gun Stephen Ketteridge-Hall registering a DNF which meant his event would be off to a tough start and would need to be seeded. Mal Yeardley in his final race in the #171 Prolite was 1st in class and 14th outright, just behind the leading SXS teams of #651 Colin Bevan and #683 Gavin Rodgers who qualified in 12th and 13th. Championship protagonists Darren Agrela and Mat Birnie weren’t as high as we have come to expect from them this season with Agrela slotting into 8th and Birnie with a mountain of work to do starting out of 17th
Section 1 comprised of a 120km blast around the Kalgoorlie desert including notable sections such as a high speed run around Lake Perkolilli. Robinson set off first and when Elphinstone and Schiller both lost time he was out in front and clear of traffic behind. The OBR Trophy truck came in quickest, 2 minutes 22 seconds over Harleigh Uren. Troy Schoen was the first buggy across the line moving into 3rd outright, with Brent Smoothy and Phil Shepley making it 4 out of the top 5 positions belonging to the trophy trucks. Kalgoorlie local Dean Terry moved up into 6th outright with Agrela still playing the conservative card moving up into 7th. For his championship rival Mat Birnie, disaster struck with a stick through the radiator causing a DNF. There was also some action for the spectators with both the Elphinstone Racing Jimco and the #616 Polaris of Dylan Nollas rolling onto their sides in the final km through the spectator section. Gavin Rodgers clocked in the quickest SXS time to sit in 9th outright, just ahead of Colin Bevan with Murray Kifer home in 11th.
Sunday was to be a crucial day in the makeup of the event with the task being 2 sections, each 120kms long. Robinson held a lead, but one mistake in the unforgiving terrain and it could be all over. Through the first lap he held his nerve, extending his lead over Uren with Agrela picking up the pace to clock in 3rd quickest. The mornings section would be one of attrition as we lost the #54 of Troy Higgins, #53 of Corey Howell, the class leading #1032 of Peter Barrett was out with gearbox issues as well as Greg Pickersgill, Michael Nollas, Terry Hosking and Gus Lacey all not completing the lap.
The final section saw Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt take off for one final lap and the once again showed they were the class of the field. Extending the lead again to bring home an emphatic victory. The OBR team running out winners by just under 6 minutes. Harleigh Uren took home a strong 2nd outright with Troy Schoen flying the flag for the buggies sealing 3rd outright and 1st in Pro Buggy. Brent Smoothy claimed 4th outright with Darren Agrela and Ryan Barton bringing their Jimco home in 5th to take 2nd in class for the event, but also their maiden WAORC outright championship win!
Mal Yeardley claimed 1st in Prolite and 8th outright whilst Colin Bevan claimed the SXS Turbo victory in 9th outright. The #1050 of Ben and Luke Erceg were the Sportslite class winners in 16th outright whilst Jason Galea and Kiera Piercy were 1st in SXS Sport in 19th. Local competitor Peter Mellington took a popular 1st in Super 1650 whilst Mark Murray and Graeme Bentink won Extreme 4wd and Production 4wd respectively
Full results can be found here
With the season now wrapped up we expect to be announcing the 2020 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship calendar soon
Photos by Peregrine Precision Aerial Photography
Tin Top Titles to be decided at Kalgoorlie
The Tin Top Classes have produced great racing all year and with the class championships up for grabs, this is set to contine at the 2019 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race
Extreme 2wd – Phil Shepley holds the points lead whilst Dan Fahey, Harleigh Uren and Russ Cullen all sit within striking distance. The Digrite Racing Pro 2 is in the box seat, but this one is going to be a nail biter
Performance 2wd – Mathew Beck in the iconic WA Off Road Junior Development Program ‘Kinga’ is the class leader and odds on to take the class title out again. Chasing hard is Karl Richardson with Dan Fahey a distant 3rd in the current points standing
Production 4wd – Current championship leader in his debut season is Aaron Griffiths with Graham Bentink ready to pounce in 2nd place. With these 2 competitors the only ones in mathematical contention for the class championship its going to be a tough battle out in the red dirt of Kalgoorlie
Extreme 4wd – Peer Horn has been the class of the field with a commanding points lead. He is followed by Mark Murray, whilst John Pursehouse and Garry Povah are neck and neck in the battle for 3rd
Full championship points can be found here
SXS Class Championship battle a big one!
The 2019 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race is just over a week away and the SXS classes are set to make up a large portion of the field. With such close racing among a large gaggle of competitors, the points race is wide open
SXS Turbo – Mat Birnie holds the lead in the SXS class with an absolute logjam of competitors fighting for the remaining places. Gavin Rodgers holds second, whilst Sean Fitzpatrick, Colin Bevan, Ben Hodge and Ashley Sudholz are all right behind! Simon Clifford will be hoping for a big points haul to make up for not competing at Three Springs whilst Rob Alford will be hoping for a clean run to finish off his debut season. With 15 competitors having already competed in this class in 2019 and another 2 set to land their first blow at Kalgoorlie, this is going to be some red hot competition
SXS Sport – Jason Galea in the Cagetec Racing Yamaha has been the only non turbo SXS competing in 2019 and will be looking to throw some punches at the turbo powered SXS’s to make up for the lack of competitors in the same class. Keep and eye and an ear out for this N/A pocket rocket
WAORC championship points can be found here
Buggy Class Championship Review
Ahead of the 2019 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race we have a look through the buggy classes to see who the championship contenders are
Pro Buggy – Darren Agrela in the #39 Undecided Racing Jimco holds a monstrous lead over Marcus Wells, with Troy Schoen, Brad Cooper and Mark Cramer hot on his heals. Paul Nappy in his first season will be hoping a strong run at Kalgoorlie might catapult him into podium contention
Prolite Buggy – Mal Yeardley is the runaway leader with Danielle Joyce, Jared Percival and Steve Knowles left battling it out for the top 3 spots. The #195 of George Metaxas isn’t too far away either and could make a late run at the top 3
Super 1650 – The Magic Man, Michael Davis had an insurmountable lead in Super 1650 over Kalgoorlie local Peter Mellington. For these 2, it will be all about bragging rights after Mellington took the win at Bencubbin earlier this year
Sportslite – Peter Barrett has been the class of the field in the Sportslite class, with a big lead over Chris Thomas. Joe Hawkins and Deon Visagie are tied for 3rd place in class and arent too far behind to steal away 2nd place
Championship points can be found here
The stakes have been raised 2019 KDR!
If there weren’t already enough reasons to get your entry in for the 2019 Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race, then here are 6000 more reasons to hit the red dirt on October 26th and 27th
Further regulations have been released announcing that there will be prize money on offer for the first 3 positions outright. First outright will pocket a cool $3000, 2nd will take home $2000 and 3rd will collect $1000
The further regulations also outline the stewards as being Naomi Jennings and Phil Bolden and that a sponsor ride will be held on the Friday. More information can be found here
Title Showdown is looming!
It all comes down to this! The final round of the 2019 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship is going to be an absolute cracker. We will be reviewing all class championship points ahead of the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race, but first up is the outright points
It will be a 2 horse race between the #682 CanAm Maverick X3 of Mat Birnie and Rochelle Funneman and the #39 Undecided Racing Jimco of Darren Agrela and Ryan Barton. There is just 1 point separating the competitors and with the differing results throughout the year its going to be finely poised ahead of the final race. Also set to come into play is the drop your worst result format which could have a big bearing on the end outcome.
For Birnie, consistency has seen him lock in 5 solid points finishes with a worst result of 10th outright being the mark he will want to improve on. If the SXS competitor can finish better than 10th, his old result will be dropped and the new one will takes its place therefore increasing his points haul. However the Geraldton crew will need a slice of luck if they are to take their maiden WAORC crown in their first attempt!
Agrela’s worst result was a DNF at Carnarvon and as such any points he scores at Kalgoorlie will be added to his total. This leaves the #39 team in the driving seat at the pointy end of the season. Any finish in the top 10 will take the title regardless of where Birnie finshes and even finishing outside the top 20 could be enough depending on other results. A result outside of this or a DNF would spell disaster after a stellar year which has netted them wins at Perenjori, Bencubbin and Three Springs
The scrap for 3rd outright will also go down to the wire as Peter Barrett, Colin Bevan, Sean Fitzpatrick and Mal Yeardley are split by just 3 points. Who will take the bragging rights out of the Carnarvon Motel Racing Team? Or can one of the SXS’s punch above their weight to join Mat Birnie and make it a duo of CanAm Maverick X3’s on the outright podium? Entries are still building for the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race as we get set for the red dirt to fly in just a few weeks time! Stay tuned for the class championship summaries in the build up to the final round of the 2019 WAORC. Current championship points can be found here
Three Springs Entries are open!
Entries for the 2019 Prestige Freightlines Three Springs 360 are now open. With a large field expected, competitors are urged to get their entries in early to ensure their place on the grid for Round 5 of the 2019 Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship
Birnie extends points lead
Mat Birnie has extended his lead at the top of the outright standings of the 2019 WAORC after a strong run to 3rd at the recent Cochranes Transport Mid West Challenge. With 2 rounds still to run, the championship is not over by any stretch of the imagination and as we head to Three Springs there are sure to be more movers and shakers throughout the class and outright championships
Outright
Mat Birnie and Rochelle Funneman are clear out in front on 62 points with a season high lead of 7 points back to Darren Agrela. The big mover in the championship picture is Sean Fitzpatrick whose 4th place at Mid West has rocketed him up the ladder to 3rd just ahead of Peter Barrett with Colin Bevan and Gavin Rodgers making it 3 SXS in the top 6. Mal Yeardley sits in 7th just ahead of mutliple times WA champion Brad Cooper whilst Ben Hodge and Mark Murray round out the top 10
Pro Buggy
Darren Agrela, Troy Schoen and Brad Cooper have put on a show throughout this years championship and rightfully sit in the top 3 positions of the Pro Buggy championship. The chasing pack aren’t far behind and will be hoping to capitalize on a slip up from any of the current front runners
Prolite
The Prolite class sees Mal Yeardley with a solid lead over Danielle Joyce, with current outright champions Jared Percival siting in 3rd. The Prolite class has been hotly contested and this look sets to continue at Three Springs
Super 1650
Super 1650 is a battle between 2, with Michael Davis currently holding a strong lead of Kalgoorlie competitor Peter Mellington. Regardless of the points, these two competitors will be sure to crank up the RPM and put on a show
Sportslite
Peter Barretts consistency and speed sees him with a massive lead in the sportslite class. Mechanical issues and DNF’s have taken their toll on the chasing pack as Hawkins, Schiller and Visagie are closely matched for the remaining podium positions
Performance 2wd
Mathew Beck has maintained his points lead in the Performance 2wd class once again showing that the WA Junior Development program is doing a fantastic job of preparing the youngsters for the challenges that may face them in the WAORC. Karl Richardson will be looking for a clean finish to the end of the year. He has shown the pace, but results have been hard to come by so far this season
Extreme 2wd
Phil Shepley has extended his lead at the top of the Extreme 2wd championship, whilst Dan Fahey remains in 2nd. Harleigh Uren looks to be the big mover here after his outright win at the Mid West Challenge and Three Springs will be pivotal in deciding the championship
Production 4wd
The Diesel powered 200 series of Graeme Bentink holds the Production 4wd lead ahead of rookie Aaron Griffiths who has had a stellar season so far. Gary Kirkwood sits in 3rd whilst Nicholas Van Geest and Ben Armstrong are not far behind in 4th and 5th
Extreme 4wd
Peer Horn’s victory at the Extreme 4wd class has him in a commanding position in the Extreme 4wd class. Mark Murry, John Pursehouse, Garry Povah and Greg Pickersgill fill out a hotly contested top 5 which is going to go down to the wire
SXS Turbo
The SXS Turbo class is extremely tight on points and this class is going to go down to Kalgoorlie to decide who takes the win. Mat Birnie leads from Sean Fitzpatrick and Gavin Rodgers all racing in CanAm X3’s with the chasing pack very evenly spread behind. Simon Clifford is the front running Polaris sitting 4th in the points
SXS Sport
Jason Galea and Kiera Piercy have it all their own way at the moment as the only entrants in the class so far. If no other challengers are forthcoming they will no doubt enjoy trying to match it with the Turbo SXS competitors in their Yamaha YXZ
Full points can be found here
2020 Sponsor and Media EOI’s are Open
Whilst the 2019 WAORC is just past the halfway mark, preparations for the 2020 season are already well and truly underway. The WA Off Road Panel and clubs which run the Western Australian Off Road Racing Championship are looking to continue the series growth as one of the leading Off Road Racing Series in Australia. In order to do this we again need the support of some amazing sponsors and media team.
With the planning of the calendar already underway, the WAORC is anticipating another 6 round series. In order to raise the series to the next level, we have developed 3 tiers of sponsorship packages; Naming Rights, Class Sponsor and Contingency Sponsor. Each have different benefits which are outlined in the Sponsorship Presentation document.
We would like to thank all of our past and continuing sponsors for their support which has been instrumental in the growth and strength of the WAORC as we know it today
Sponsorship EOI and Media position EOI’s close on Thursday 18/10/19 at 5pm. Expressions of Interest must be emailed to waorcsponsorship@iinet.net.au
WAORC Points are tight at the top
Its tight at the top in the WAORC Outright points chase as we have a mix of 3 different classes duking it out in the top 3. First outright with a consistent run so far is Mat Birnie in his SXS Turbo class CanAm X3. Just 2 points behind is Darren Agrela who has taken a pair of wins in his Undecided Racing Jimco. Sitting in third place and ready to pounce on any mistakes is the Carnarvon Motel Racing Sportslite of Peter Barrett.
Throughout the class battles there is plenty more tight points chases with 3 rounds to go. In Pro Buggy Darren Agrela and Brad Cooper are closely matched with Troy Schoen and Marcus Wells snapping at their heels. Prolite sees Mal Yeardley with a strong lead, but he will be wary of the chasing pack of Percival, Metaxas, Knowles and Joyce. Michael Davis has a strong lead over Peter Mellington in Super 1650 as the magic man looks to claim back to back Super 1650 titles. Extreme 2wd is tough to split with Phil Shepley, Daniel Fahey, Russ Cullen and Kent Dunham all evenly matched across the opening three rounds.
Mathew Beck has shown great consistency and pace to lead Performance 2wd over Karl Richardson and Jordan Russell. Production 4wd has the diesel power of Graham Bentink leading the way from Aaron Griffiths who is having a fantastic run in his debut season. In Extreme 4wd Peer Horn holds a slim lead over Mark Murray whilst SXS Sport is a one horse racing with Jason Galea in his Yamaha YXZ. SXS Turbo is very evenly matched with Mat Birnie holding a small lead over Gavin Rodgers with Sean Fitzpatrick in 3rd and Mark Harris at the head of the chasing pack in 4th. Peter Barrett is on one hell of a run in Sportslite with 3 consecutive class wins and leads Joe Hawkins in 2nd with Scott Schiller and Deon Visagie locked on equal points in 3rd
As all eyes turn to the Mid West Challenge the second half of the season is going to see some cracking racing!
Full points are available here