Rhodes leads Day One at Kalgoorlie 400


DirtcompJack Rhodes - Dirtcomp; Kalgoorlie 400 AORC 1; Kalgoorlie 400 AORC 1

South Australian Jack Rhodes lead the way at the inaugural Kalgoorlie 400 after the #91 Jimco racer crossed the finish line fastest in Saturday’s section 1 with a time of 57m32sec.

What was a hot and dusty opening round of the 2014 Australian Off Road Championship, Outer Bounds Racing’s Travis Robinson greeted the chequered flag first in his #13 BFGoodrich-backed Jimco however had to settle for second-fastest on the time sheets, 54 seconds behind Rhodes but 14 seconds ahead of his brother Beau Robinson who finished third in the #413 Tonka Geiser Bros Trophy Truck.

Reigning champions Shannon and Ian Rentsch finished fourth in the #1 Hogs Breath Pro Buggy while Queenslander Tony Fehlhaber (#138) rounded out the top five and was first of the Prolite racers home.

It was a trying day for SNAP SMU Racing’s Matt Hanson and Leigh Wells who lost brakes and boost and struggled home in sixth, reigning Prolite class champion Andrew Mowles finished seventh and WA-entered Steven Phillips came home in eighth.

Queenslander Colin Hunter had earlier been unable to finish his Top 10 Shootout lap due to locking up brakes at the finish-line tyre chicanes, but salvaged his Section 1 result to come in ninth ahead of 2013 series runner-up Hayden Bentley.

CLASS LEADERS AFTER SECTION 1:

Pro Buggy – Jack Rhodes #91
Prolite Buggy – Andrew Mowles #101
Super 1650 Buggy – Russell Hartnett #201
Extreme 2WD – Beau Robinson #413
Performance 2WD – Paul Youman #502
Production 4WD – Chris Dawes #750
Extreme 4WD – Colin Hunter #802

Easter Sunday April 20 sees the final day of racing at the Western Desert Racers Kalgoorlie 400, with Section 2 commencing at 8am and Section 3 at 1.30pm.