Wednesday’s racing headed out past the Trakka Terrace base camp, after the mornings speed stage at Coopers Stadium, to Fourby’s Freeway. EFS Qld were the first on SS11 and the time lost negotiating the first off camber turn, where they had to break out the winch to stop the truck sliding out of the course in the greasy conditions, forced them just over the DNF time by a few seconds. It was an impressive effort considering they completed the course with the rear upper control arm torn off the chassis. British Offroad put in quick and smooth performance, nailing one of the huge winch walls in one take – where most of the others had to reposition the winch point to get their way around the green bunted (-40 point) grass tree’s near the top. As the showers came and went, the GPS Winch stage which was held simultaneously became tougher as the day progressed, blowing out from 3 or 4 winches to 7-8. Summit Racing joined Skips Stuff Racing on the side lines after busting another winch, leaving both teams to compete in the speed and GPS runs for the remainder of the event.
The afternoons stage featured more huge winch walls and steep decents, which made for some harsh entries into the bottom of the gully as the trucks slid down and it was just as tough for the navi’s as they scrambled up to hook up. Matt and Rob laid the Cable Tie Racing GQ on it’s side in the bottom of the creek bed half way through the stage, before self recovering to only roll the truck again at the top of the hill while winching over a log. This left the red GQ in a precarious position and all hands were on deck to recover the truck and clear the stage so action could continue.
Last night the competitors made their way to a neighbouring property via a GPS Stage for an overnight stay and more stages on Thursday. Competition returns to Landcruiser Mountain Park on Friday and Saturday, with the presentation held on Saturday night. Dirtcomp will be back up at the park for the final two days action and we will do our best to provide some more updates and the event reaches its conclusion.
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