After explosive seasons, the AORC and ARB ORRS draw to a close this weekend. Team Toyo will be on hand to keep the pointy end of the field sharp.
Off-road racing gathered momentum throughout season 2014.
Locally the personalities, unique terrains and outrageous driving styles unseen in other sports captured the attention of new fans for both series.
Team Toyo USA’s BJ Baldwin and the hoonage heavy Recoil2 has helped the growth sport to cross over to the mainstream.
The announcement that Robby Gordon and Stadium Super trucks will compete at the Clipsal 500 in 2015 has also drawn interest in trophy trucks.
The decider rounds for the two hotly contested series are set to be fought out on the dirt, with the final round of the AORC this weekend at the Lockyer 300 and the Pines Enduro 400 wrapping up the ARB ORRS.
Needless to say, the Toyo M/T-R’s are ready to pound the ground.
ARB Off Road Racing Series - Pines Enduro 400
After popping an engine at Goondiwindi Danny Brown will return to the Pines Enduro in top form.
“It’s a competitive field,” says Danny. “There are 87 entries and almost 30 pro class buggies. It’s going to a good contest, there are some top drivers running and it’s the last round of the year so it will be flat out racing.”
With a freshly fettled VQ35 and a pair of hot new turbos, Danny isn’t pulling any punches. He’s gunning to end the year with the outright win, and ward off a series of ‘that’s racing’ incidents from this year’s competition.
“I am going all out this weekend,” says Danny.
Photo credit: Kane Naaraat www.kaneophoto.com.au.
While there is no dust to contend with at the Millicent track, the long straights and fast flow of the Pines Enduro place engines and driveline components under extreme stress.
“This race is always tough on the cars; there's lots of flat out running and lots of DNF’s from blown motors. The first straight on the way out is almost 3ks long and after a few laps the sandy corners cut up badly.
“There isn’t much dust though so it doesn’t matter as much where you qualify. We will try to prologue around the top five and chase them down on Sunday morning; just get an idea of the pace and go from there.”
Danny’s father Andy Brown will hold it down for Toyo in the trophy trucks, driving Danny’s former trophy truck. When Andy straps in behind the wheel for the prologue it will be his first trophy truck experience.
Andy Murdock is signed to represent Toyo in X2WD at Pines, with the big green Razorback trophy truck ready for battle.
Photo credit: Kane Naaraat www.kaneophoto.com.au.
Australian Off Road Championship - Lockyer 300
Greg Gartner is currently in fourth place outright in the Australian off-road championship and second in the X2WD class. If all goes to plan, the #403 truck will spend its first Lockyer 300 weekend breathing down the neck of class rival Beau Robinson in his Tonka #402 Trophy Truck, with a conservative race strategy definitely not the plan for Lockyer.
“We will be racing to finish but we won’t leave anything on the track,” says Greg. “This is going to be an interesting weekend. We are going up with a serious race in mind. We’re definitely going to be giving it all we’ve got and pushing as hard as we can.”
Greg’s performance this weekend could be a game changer for the final results of the championship, with a mathematical chance he could finish on the podium for an outright place.
“We certainly could be looking at a class victory,” says Greg. “It’s going to be a pretty tense final round. Breaking the drivetrain on the return leg for Finke kept lost us valuable points which hurt our position but we have a good chance to fight back in QLD.”
The class rivalry between Greg and Beau is friendly off the track, and vicious on it.
“We’re good mates, but when it's race time we certainly drive as competitors. We can race close, as we proved in Coffs Harbour: we were racing within inches of each other.”
Billy Geddes will regrettably rest his truck for the final bout of the year, keen to head back out in 2015. Billy presently stands at fourth place in the X2WD class, with 616 points.
Billy’s ironman effort at Finke this year where he completed each leg twice, once in trophy truck ‘Hellboy’ and once on his race prepared KTM motocross bike, will ensure he goes down in off-road history. Geddit Racing plans to continue winding up the wick in 2015.
Brad Gallard and Matthew Kittle won’t be competing either. Brad was forced to withdraw his entry late, due to an unfortunate change in work and other commitments. Putting the Jimco to the side for this event, Matthew Kittle is pursuing his first love after off-road racing, and is preparing to marry his fiancé.
Peter Kittle Motorsport, now featuring Brad Gallard, is the team to watch next year. More will be revealed in the months to come.
