Podium honours for Team Toyo in the Riverland.
The Toyo Tires Riverland Enduro has come to a close, with first honours claimed by Jack Rhodes after a relentless five laps, clocking a blistering 3h23m57s in the #91 Pro Buggy.
Current Series champ Shannon Rentsch pulled in second with Team Toyo’s own Brad Gallard collecting third place, and first in the Extreme 2WD class.
Waikerie awoke to rain this morning, with the gentle sound on rooftops signifying a shift in competition strategy. The Toyo Tires Riverland Enduro would be a largely dust free race.
After a Finke campaign that saw things come unstuck at the eleventh hour, local hero Brad Gallard and Team #454 were leaving nothing to chance, running their own race.
“It was different out there today, we had rain and we had a little bit of dust in the end, the track was all over the place but it was good. A total skating rink when it was raining but the truck ran perfect all day” said Gallard.
“The tyres were spot on, I could not have asked for any more from them. I put a couple of fresh ones on for that last section and they hooked up well. The truck just got grippier and it was pulling hard.
“It was fast and slippery, but we were motoring. We went and ran our own race, and we ran a smart race. We didn’t get tied up in trying to race anyone early on and it pulled through for us. We just kept consistent and kept lapping the truck and it didn’t miss a beat.”
Recording a 3h31m23s, Gallard dominated the trophy truck class, just under a minute ahead of fourth place take Greg Gartner.
Gartner was pulling no punches, hitting whoops and jumps with the ferocity the crowds have come to expect from the #403 Toyo sponsored truck.
“We loved it! We had rainfall this morning and at 170km/h sideways it’s a bit scary. This afternoon it dried up beautifully and rutted up where we needed it to, and with the nice long straights and rocky sections so you really had a bit of everything, we are just stoked to have finished! “ Explained an exuberant Gartner ecstatic with the performance of his fresh Toyo’s.
“We really didn’t even need to change the tyres at half way, we put a new set on but we didn’t need to. There is some really sharp rocks out there but the tyres performed really well."
Off the back of a definition defying performance between Alice and Finke, Billy Geddes had a tough second day in Waikerie.
“We had a bit of a rough day at the office today. I ran into a stump and wrecked a tyre just before I finished the first lap this morning. We had to change that on the track before moving on and we obviously dropped a lot of time there” said Geddes.
“We didn’t want to wreck anyone’s day so we held back a bit and just sussed out the morning. Then the clouds parted and we said ‘righto’ and cleaned the car up and got back out there and started motoring again.
“We had a little bit of an oil pressure issue, we aren’t sure exactly what’s going on so we nursed the car through the afternoon but still had a bit of fun.”
“We had a good time, it’s a great little race. It was our first time at Waikerie and we had a ball. This is what we need and this is what we want to see, with Brad up on the podium it’s a great look for all the teams.
“All the trophy trucks were pretty strong and we had a little mishap, but that’s racing. You don’t get to step on the podium every time.”
Geddes logged a still extremely quick 3h48m36s, for ninth place.
Unfortunately Team Toyo suffered some mechanical drama during the first lap. At around the 30km mark, the rear brake rotor of Matthew Kittle’s PKMS buggy disintegrated.
Team Manager Rob Richardson cited the combination of 200km/h straights and tight corners in the cold, wet conditions for the race ending component failure.
A disappointing end to a promising start this race weekend, Mathew’s resolve is not damaged by the incident and the buggy is being repaired right this moment.
A win for Team Toyo and a win for the Riverland, third place getter Brad Gallard summarised the revitalised race perfectly.
“The Waikerie event has definitely stepped up, no doubt; coming into the nationals with Toyo Tires supporting it as naming rights sponsor. We had 90 plus top cars competing out here, so it has stepped up hugely from where it was. We are looking forward to some future events here, it has gone down really well.
Congratulations on a great weekend boys, we will see you in Coffs Harbour.
