Indian Ocean prawns cooked Thai-style are the reward for five Isuzu Motorsport crews at the end of the second last day of the 2014 Australasian Safari, being run in Western Australia.
Isuzu Motorsports’ leader Bruce Garland describes one of their Thai mechanics as a ‘gun chef’ who has whipped up something special for dinner for the crews, who have survived Day Six unscathed.
Western Australia’s Adrian Di Lallo and co-driver Roger ‘Roj’ Pedersen are the best placed of the three official Isuzu Motorsports entries, their production-class Isuzu MU-X wagon in fifth outright and first in class.
Thailand’s Olan Sornsirirat and Veerachai Thorangkoon – the third team in the official ‘Isuzu trio’ – are second in the same class, and eighth outright in their D-MAX ute.
Di Lallo’s co-driver ‘Roj’ Pedersen, making his racing comeback after a serious accident last year, has been on an unusual incentive scheme during the Safari – an ice-cream each time he got the navigation correct. Today, however, he returned the favour.
“It was another great day but Adrian earned the ice-cream today – a chocolate coated banana!” Pedersen says.
“It was a real drivers’ day. We lost time on the third stage with a puncture over some very sharp rocky areas but we’re still pushing. Only 150km of competitive to go tomorrow till the finish line!”
Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki returned to competition yesterday (Thursday) after an enforced lay-off, repairing their Dakar-spec D-MAX ute which had been brought to a standstill by an electrical fault early on Day Three.
While Garland describes their progress as ‘cruising’, now they are no longer in outright podium contention, he and Suzuki have easily posted some top 10 stage times.
After the rough and tumble of the week, there are just 20 of the original 37 starters in the ‘car’ category still running, and despite the time lost – and extra time courtesy of penalties – Garland and Suzuki are in 17th place outright.
“The conditions were quite rough out there today, but we’re not pushing it. We’re just following the two MU-Xs through, and making sure everyone gets to cross the finish line tomorrow,” Garland says.
“We did have a bit of a moment today. There was a section where Harry called a triple caution with a turn, and I thought he meant we turned after the caution, but just as well I pulled up, because the caution referred to a 100m cliff that would have dropped us straight into the Indian Ocean if we had gone over!
“We stopped about a car’s width from the cliff edge and turned in time! It was actually very beautiful, running along parallel to the sea, but it could have been a bit nasty! Everything is going well with the cars, and it is really just a spanner check tonight – and time to enjoy our dinner and a good night’s sleep!”
Aside from the strong results posted by the official Isuzu Motorsports entrants, the two other Isuzu crews being helped by the Garland/Suzuki team have also come home well.
The Thai-entered D-MAX crewed by Vorapot Bunchuaylua and Chupong Chaiwan remains in sixth while the Isuzu MU-X being campaigned by Safari stalwart Reg Owen and co-driver Russell Cairns, is 13th outright.
Competitors tackled three stages today, taking them from Exmouth – the gateway to the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area – to Carnarvon, where the Gascoyne River meets the Indian Ocean, around 900km north of the West Australian capital of Perth.
Tomorrow the final stage – the 156.69km ‘Murchison Mega Finale’ – will take them to the finish line at Kalbarri, 592km north of Perth, after seven days and more than 3000km of endurance racing. The 2014 Australasian Safari kicked off in Perth, with a ceremonial start, last Friday night and full competition began in Geraldton, 424km north of Perth on Sunday, September 21.
Overall results after day six (all results provisional at time of writing):
1. Steve Riley / John Doble – Holden VF – 24:30:03
2. David McShane / William Hayes – Toyota Tacoma – 24:40:21
2. Greg Scanlon / Liam Nunns – Nissan Patrol – 25:05:51
5. Adrian Di Lallo / Roger Pedersen – Isuzu MU-X – 26:37:07
6. V. Bunchuaylua / C. Chaiwan – Isuzu D-MAX – 29:35:41
8. O. Sornsirirat / V. Thorangkoon – Isuzu D-MAX – 30:44:35
13. Reg Owen / Russell Cairns – Isuzu MU-X – 38:58:49
