Results are in for the short course prologue stage of what may be the ‘biggest Finke ever’.
During a bumpy, dusty and windy prologue stage, Team Toyo’s team of off-road racers have established themselves at the pointy end of the field.
Brad Gallard, Billy Geddes, Matthew Kittle and Andrew Kittle have clocked top 20 outright times in the prologue short course at Finke this morning, with Bruce Garland first in the production 4WD class.
Brad Gallard was satisfied with his Team Toyo topping sixth place, five minute 18 second time in the tightly split prologue, “Yeah we’re happy enough with it, we’re not over the moon” explained Gallard.
“The truck performed well, we should have run more weight in the rear end, it didn’t handle as well as it should have”
Seeking to maximise the big truck’s acceleration on the tight prologue course, Gallard ran a 37” Toyo Open Country MT-R, as opposed to the 39” he will race on tomorrow.
“We ran in the 37” to get a little more punch around the corners, but we ran a bit light to do that, so I’m not sure it was the right decision” said Gallard, as Team 454 rattle gunned the 39” OP-MTR on under the truck's arches.
“We are feeling real good for tomorrow, and we aren’t too worried about the position, even one car back and you will get dust, and it’s a bit windy so that will clear some dust out.”
Despite being slightly disappointed with the prologue result, Gallard noted that the vibe in Alice Springs was electric.
“The Finke it’s the biggest it’s ever been, it’s very exciting and the truck hasn’t missed a beat. Bring it on!”
THE DOUBLE DIPPER
Billy Geddes reflected on his prologue result of 14th place, as he prepared to do the short course again on the KTM, as part of his daring double Finke run.
“We had a pretty good run this morning, if I wanted to be picky with it, we had our gearing a little too high, but in the race the gearing will be ideal. The tyres, holy dooley, what a difference, the car was really predictable and spot on, if anything, we spent a little too much time in second trying to get up some speed, but it was a nice clean run”
“I am feeling good, just preparing with the KTM boys now, but I know what I have got to do, I will take a nice casual ride around the prologue. The priority is the truck, if we can get a couple of broken cars in front of us and get some clean air, we should be able to pull a strong result.”
[UPDATE: Billy has placed 160th in the bike prologue with a strong six minute 57 second time, and has renewed confidence about tomorrow’s race and his ability to run the double].
BROTHERS, RIVALS
Brothers and life long friendly rivals, Andrew and Matthew Kittle, both racing Peter Kittle Motorsport prepared Pro-class Jimco buggies, were only a second apart in their prologue runs, placing 11th and 13th respectively.
“The run was pretty good actually, we were basically just getting through it, we wanted to be up around the top end, and there are a lot of fast drivers ahead of us tomorrow. The buggy didn’t miss a beat, stayed very predictable, the tyres and suspension worked well”
“We went a bit too hard too early last year and flipped, so we are focussed on just getting down to Finke and revaluating, we have a Prolite buggy starting directly in front, so we will get around him fast and start chasing Andrew down” said Matthew Kittle.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a tough one to call, there are a lot of big holes down the track, and it is a bit rougher than last year, not rough enough to put buggies off speed though, we wont lose much on the real stuff!”
Ahead of his brother in prologue, Andrew Kittle was grateful to the new rubber for pulling him through and keeping the buggy in once piece for the race.
“The tyres probably helped me out of a couple of sticky situations and held in where others normally wouldn’t have! We are focussed on having a good clean run to Finke, and we will let the results take care of themselves.”
CLASS LEADER
Bruce Garland knocked five seconds off his prologue time from 2013 in a new Isuzu MU-X, and is starting first in the Production 4WD class
“The car is gliding fantastically over the bumps and cornering reliably, the chassis on it is fantastic.”
Garland attributed part of his success this morning to the new Toyo Open Country A/T II tyres on the MU-X.
“They were very good, we are going to run them down to Finke for the first time, they seem to be a lot faster than all the other tyres we’ve had and I think they are going to do the job fine!”
With a storied Finke history, Garland is planning on going quick, but taking care tomorrow.
“The plan is to get down to Finke without hurting my body too much and then do the same thing back. Get some race miles on the car so we can see how she goes.”
Good luck for tomorrow boys!
RESULTS
1 #13 TRAVIS ROBINSON 04m:59s
2 #1 SHANNON RENTSCH 05m:10s
3 #92 DAVID FELLOWS 05m:11s
4 #91 JACK RHODES 05m:12s
5 #871 CLAYTON CHAPMAN 05m:15s
6 #454 BRAD GALLARD 05m:18s
7 #413 BEAU ROBINSON 05m:18s
8 #93 AARON JAMES 05m:20s
9 #2 HAYDEN BENTLEY 05m:22s
10 #3 MATT HANSON 05m:22s
11 #14 ANDREW KITTLE 05m:23s
13 #23 MATTHEW KITTLE 05m:25s
14 #441 BILLY GEDDES 05m:25s
15 #410 GREG GARTNER 05m:26s
68 #750 BRUCE GARLAND 06m:55s
Go to the official Finke Desert Race website for detailed outright results for the prologue.
