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Second it the points, they took their Alumicraft/Nissan V6 Prolite buggy to a trouble-free victory by 1:36.05 after eight laps over three sections for a total of 450kms of the Charters Towers course. They carried on from victory in Saturday’s first second to maintain the lead through the second and third sections.
“We got seeded back there at the start of those last couple of laps and we just had to go out there and do our own thing, run our own race, and we got there in the end,” Mel Brandle said.
“Consistency, that track out there was definitely what people call a drivers’ track. I reckon I spent more time sideways out there than I did going forward. There’s a lot of concentration, a lot of hard work that goes in to doing that.”
Second place went to Glen Ackroyd and Michael Price who also won the Transportable Shade Sheds SXS Championship round in their SXS Turbo Can-Am Maverick X3, ahead of third outright James and Michael Mogford, also in a Can Am.
Pro Buggy honours and fourth overall were Laurence and Janelle Svenson (German Autos Chassis/Holden V6 twin turbo) in front of the Can Am crews of Glenn Brinkman/Jaclyn Hughes and Ben Nixon/Tom Margitich.
Dramas continued for championship leaders Beau Robinson, Shane Hutt and their Mason Trophy Truck/Chev Extreme 2WD. After a puncture on Saturday, they were sidelined with torque convertor issues.
After a strong Saturday, Roydn Bailey and Simon Herrmann were also retirees when their Element Prodigy/Toyota V6 TT Pro Buggy met with a tree on Sunday afternoon. They were able to walk away uninjured.
Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton (Ford SBH Ranger/Chev LS1) finished first in the Performance 2WD class and seventh overall. Next were Tom and Toby Stephens (Can Am), and Klaus McGhie and Jason Muchenberg (Rush Truck/Chev) who won Extreme2WD.
Tenth and the Production 4WD win went to Norman and Tyson Parker (Toyota Landcruiser 76 Series) while Declan Cummins and Maxcine Cooney (Lothringer/Honda) topped Sportslite and Ross Newman and Jessica Jackson (Yamaha YXZ1000) took out SXS Sport.
The Australia Off Road Championship heads next to West Australia for the Kalgoorlie Desert Race that will be the final round on October 26-27.
