The past weekend was the long-awaited opening round of the Aust4 Racing Series. With the advent of the new series in Australia, Nitto Tyres jumped at the chance to support the events as the naming rights sponsor and the marriage between the tyre brand and the Australian 4WD scene was established.
With the weekend’s events circling around a 15km track with a healthy dash of creeks, rocky ledges and high-speed open sections – all of the classes were well represented from the likes of the stock jeep through to the Aust4 pro and pro-lite buggies.
The circuit was wet on the Friday night and after a recci lap of the main course, the decision was made to push prologue to the Saturday morning. Once the sun had risen and signaled the start of a fresh day, the track had the chance to absorb the surface water and dry out, leaving a loamy and fast loop with masses of overtaking opportunities and high speed cornering.
The prologue saw the UTV’s beginning to pull to the front of the pack as the dominating force, the tighter tree lined sections and the steep jumps ideal for their short wheelbase’s and on-tap power. Chris Reid #245 in the Pro buggy blistered the prologue course with a quantity of time spent on two wheels as he powered his LS powered hard through the corners.
Once racing got underway on the main course, the UTVs were blitzing the field with quick lap times. The Polaris and East Coast PowerSports backed RZR 1000 of Ian Graham #67 was the fastest lap holder after the weekend with a 00:15:01. The #05 Polaris of Brett Comiskey was the overall victor of the weekend with a total of 12 laps, slightly piping the Bennett Motorsports #467 RZR 1000 by one lap.
Of the Pro and Pro-Lite buggies, #24 Remi – the winner of the 2013 King of the Park – was the silent victor, managing eight laps of the tougher and rockier course. The #18 Nissan Patrol won the Modified class, getting in the most laps over the weekend and completing their fastest lap in 00:29:35.
A massive mention goes to the team that looked to be having the most fun over the weekend – Team #7108 – Fireball Racing’s Stock class Jeep. The boys are now the official ambassadors for Aust4 Racing’s marketing to draw in new competitors. With a vehicle build totaling $2000.00, the guys were getting more racing for their dollar than any other team.
Round two of the series is on the weekend of June 21st at Land Cruiser Mountain Park in Jimna Qld. Entries and rules are found on their website www.aust4.com.au