Brothers Andrew and Matthew Kittle have scored a family-first 1-2 victory in the South Australian Off Road Racing Championship in a final hit-out before the Finke Desert Race.
The Kittle Team also scored its first victory on Toyo tyres in a flat out test-to-destruction to prepare for Australia's most important race.
Older brother Andrew and co-driver Andrew Kerr led home Matthew and stand-in co-driver Jess Adami by 1min 36secs in identical Toyota-powered Jimco buggies over 256km of extreme-condition off road racing.
"Our entry was a systems check before the Finke race in June," Kittle team manager Rob Richardson said.
"The SA Round at Parilla near Tailem Bend replicates the deep sand and loam of the Finke and after several laps of the 32km course it cuts up as badly as the Finke."
The Kittle team ran for the first time on 35-inch Toyo Open Country M/T tyres on a high speed course with sustained speeds of more than 200km/h.
"Our concern was for durability and performance, both in turn-in and the ability to handle acceleration over the rough terrain," Richardson said.
"It's worth noting that our major competitor was sidelined with tyre failure while our buggies survived the entire event without issue."
Andrew Kittle was awarded the Richard Bennet Memorial Trophy for his victory in the second round of the South Australian Title.
Both Kittle brothers worked their vehicles up to a winning position after starting more conservatively.
Andrew was third in the brief six kilometre prologue and third in the two-lap (64km) day one first section while Matthew moved to fifth from a 15th prologue position.
In the day two second section the brothers claimed their 1-2 finish, a first for the highly regarded off-road racing family.
The Kittle Team joined Team Toyo only this season and regards the Finke, in which the boy's father Peter competed for many years while based in Alice Springs, as its home event.
The Tatts Finke Desert race on June 7 to 9 covers 229km each way from Alice Springs to the remote community of Finke and back.
