North Queenslanders, Talbot Cox and Craig King are the overnight leaders at the ARB Town and Country Tyres Stackpoole 500, round 1 of the 2019 ARB Australian Off Road Racing Championship in their #16 Unlimited Buggy. After securing pole position by just 0.8 seconds, Cox didn’t hold back on the opening two laps at Stackpoole to stop the clocks in a time of 1hr 35min 13sec.
Qualifying 10th, Brent Martin and Andre De Simone brought the form that delivered them a Finke podium to the table last month. Charging through the field in their #1 Class 1 to finish the day in second outright, 2min 25sec behind Cox.
Jason and Kristy Richards piloted their #119 Chenowth into third on the road, with #54 John Morgan & Brendon Midgley, #15 Clayton Chapman & Adam McGuire, #32 Michael Marson & Chris Colborne and #57 Aaron and Liz Haby all hot on their heels.
Sunday will see the teams tackle four more 80km laps of Stackpoole. Racing is scheduled to start at 8:30am.
Photos thanks to Jeff Newick