In their Nissan V6 Twin Turbo powered Jimco Aussie Special, they took the lead on the final 160km lap and won by 40s. Second went to James Cook and Mitch Aucote in their new Chev LS7 engined GET Performance with third in a Pro Buggy class one-two-three going to Travis Robinson and Paul Currie (Jimco/Nissan TT).
Martin was 35s behind a conservative Cook who took the lead when Martin’s brother Brett and Andre De Simone (Jimco/Nissan TT) were sidelined. It was Dale Martin’s first outright victory.
“We’ve taken a few seconds and thirds over the years, but it’s been a long time coming to get first place. they’re hard to come by,” Dale said.
“We looked at the numbers (before the last lap) and my dad said that we can do it and to put the foot down. So, it was a bit of inspiration, a push from him, and a blinder of a lap where we didn’t miss a beat. Just every corner, every bump was perfect. And Tanner called a perfect race.”
The fight for third was close as reigning champion Robinson snatched by just 2.4s. The prologue winner had to overcome some mechanical setbacks that had him ninth, before a last lap pass on Aaron and Chelsea Haby (Element Prodigy/Toyota V6 TT).
Fifth place went to Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt in their Extreme 2WD Mason Motorsport/Chev Trophy Truck. They placed ahead of 2023 championship runner ups father/son Mel and Liam Brandle in the non-turboed Nissan V6 powered Alumicraft ProLite class winner.
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Then came another three Pro Buggies in Brett Rogers/Brett Richardson (Jimco/Chev), Tom Owen/Damon Bennett (Jimco/Holden AlloyTech TT), and Jared Percival/Brenton Gallasch (Element/Toyota V6 TT). Tenth and second in ProLite were Ben Falk and John O’Connor in their first meeting in the class aboard their Custom Fab .
In the Transportable Shade Sheds SXS MA Championship, Greg and Tori Campbell won the class, after they overtook fellow Can-Am/BRP Rotax Turbo runners and Saturday leaders James and Michael Mogford.
Other class winners include Jan Wisse/Emily Brandle (SXS Sport), Rick Chambers/Patrick Geraghty (Super 1650), Paul Tinga/Daniel Kelsey (Sportslite), Michael Shipton/Paul Chorlton (Performance 2WD), and Norman Parker/Mark Robertson (Production 4WD).
Fifth at the end of Day 1 were Josh Howells/Gordon Tardew (Jimco/Nissan V6 TT) while several high-profile crews were early casualties. They included Brent Smoothy/Jake Clucas and Brett Comiskey/Corey Cooper with gearbox problems, and engine issues stopped Matt Hanson/Nigel Pendlebury, as well as Shane Elphinstone/Luke Candy who didn’t get through the Prologue.
The next round of the BFGoodrich AORC is the Tatts Finke Desert Race on June 7-10.
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