Centralian Advocate, Tuesday, November 15, 2011 — 35

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Weather stopsAuricht chargeOFF ROAD RACING

Dale FletcherDan Auricht and Grant Connelly compete during the2011 season Picture: KANE NAARAAT

Dan Auricht and Grant Connelly flying high Picture: KANE NAARAAT

LOCAL off road racer DanAuricht had his chance ofwinning the Australian OffRoad championship dashedafter the abandonment ofthe final race of the season.

The Albins Off Road GearGoondiwindi 400 was calledoff after torrential rain anda hail storm damaged thetrack conditions.

Auricht said: ‘‘Would’ve,could’ve, we’ll never know.

‘‘We were in with achance, an outside chance,but nonetheless, a chance totake home the 2011 cham-pionship. Having said that,our team believe that organ-isers made the right call onthe day and I think those ofus that were there didn’twant to race in those condit-ions.’’

After making the 2850kilometre journey from Al-ice Springs to the Queens-land border town ofGoondiwindi early in theweek, Auricht and GrantConnelly spent time withBrad Zacka working ontheir King Shock Absorberset-up and fine tuning of themid mount Jimco AussieSpecial Pro buggy numbertwo.

He said: ‘‘We believe wehad the perfect package totake on the notoriousGoondiwindi melon holes.

‘‘From what we’ve heardfrom the organisers thatdrove the whole track onThursday, it was the best

track the GoondiwindiMotorsports Associationhas prepared.

‘‘We were really lookingforward to the technicalnature of the drivers’ track.’’

Season 2010 didn’t endwell for the True Build Rac-ing team either, succumbingto a massive rollover on alogging track in theTantanoola Pine Forest atthe Teagle ExcavationsARB Pines Enduro in Sept-ember; the team and theJimco rebuilding and mov-ing forward for an attack onthe 2011 Australian OffRoad Championship andthe right to don the numberone plate for 2012.

After an up and downyear, the team almost

reached their goal, reclaim-ing the number two plateafter a tight and hard-fought year.

The year started with afourth placing in round onein Western Australia afterstopping trackside tochange a flat tyre cost valu-able time.

Round two was the lowpoint of the year, the Jimcosgearbox expiring in theteam’s local event, the Tatt-ersall’s Finke Desert Race.

Auricht said at the sixkilometre mark, sixth gearwent.

He said: ‘‘With all theother gears still driving well,and no sign of other issues,we continued on.

‘‘After passing (Dave) Fel-

lows 15 kilometres from thestart and taking over therace lead we knew we werein there with a chance for awin until the gearbox wentinto complete meltdown 50kilometres into the 225 kilo-metre track.’’

The team decided toreplace the clutch of the V8Chev-powered Jimco with at o r q u e c o n v e r t e r , achangeover they had sched-uled to complete at the endof the season, but thegearbox failure at Finkemoved the plans forward sixmonths to compete in therest of this season.

The new configurationproved a winner, withAuricht and Connelly driv-ing the Jimco into second

place in round three.Round four took the team

back to the south east forestwhere Auricht admitted hewas more than tentativeabout getting back out onthe track, with last year’srollover always in the backof his mind.

With Auricht gainingmore confidence after everylap, the team ultimately fin-ished in third outright andbanked another 15 points,making a do-or-die contestfor the number one plate atGoondiwindi.

Auricht said after accept-ing number two without amajor sponsor and runninga small business makes rac-ing at times challenging.

He said: ‘‘We have a greatteam of supporters who as-sist throughout the year.Without their assistance wecouldn’t have achieved thisoutcome.

‘‘While the number onewould have been great,back-to-back number two isthe next best thing.

‘‘We would like to thankChris and Julie Coulthard atAutosparky for all their as-sistance throughout theyears. Craig Carrison ofCraig Carrison Race En-gines who has put together astrong competitive V8 en-gine that has run faultlesslyover the past two years andhis support prior to and atevents has been instrumen-tal.

‘‘Phil Hateley, KaneNaaraat and Jack Spearshave been a massive helpduring the season. Withoutthem at the track helping usto go over the car it wouldnot have been possible tocompete. Their enthusiasmfor the sport and their abil-ity to have a good laughduring the weekend cer-tainly helps lift the atmos-phere.

‘‘Brad Zacka with KingShocks has aided in a vastimprovement of the hand-ling of the car since lastyear. A big thanks goes toBluey from Alice Paint andP a n e l , B r i a n f r o mSignmaster and Ben andBryant from Neptune Fib-reglass for their help inrepairing the car at the be-ginning of the year andcreating the silver bullet forthe 2011 season.

‘‘Finally the True BuildRacing team would like tothank all of their supportersincluding True Build Con-structions, Autosparky,Craig Carrison Race En-gines, Holcim Alice Springs,Signmaster, Alice Paint andPanel, King Shocks, GGSGlass & Aluminium,Neptune Fibreglass, G & STransport, Sporties Cafe &Restaurant, Jack Weld, Al-ice Hosetech, TZ Tuning,K a n e N a a r a a t -kaneophoto.com.au, TonyByrnes, Phil Hateley, ChrisAuricht and Dan Bartell.’’

Track roars to lifeSPEEDWAY

Warren Thomson

Greg Hicks won round one of the A-Class Racing Bomber series Picture: MIKE POTTS

ARUNGA Park Speed-way put on a spectacleSaturday night withanother entertainingnight of racing.

The headline actsdidn’t disappoint withsome exciting action inthe opening rounds ofthe Alice IndustrialSupplies Junior SedanSeries and A-Class Rac-ing Bomber series.

Brock Napier took outfirst round of the Jun-ior Sedan Series whichoffered a lot of thrills

and spills including oneyoung driver rolling hisvehicle.

Jamie Napier took outthe opening heat aheadof Jack Thomsen andBrock Napier but Brockended up taking out theevent in convincingstyle by winning thenext two heats and thefinal.

In the Bombers event,Steve Sanders andGreg Hicks won thefirst two heats but afterbreaking his steeringrack in the first heatand getting two flatrear tyres in the second

heat, David Sandersput in a great drive totake out the third heat.

David Sanders didn’thave much luck in thefinal with a hit seeinghim fall behind the fieldbut Hicks was the bet-ter driver and won thefinal by a comfortabledistance ahead of SteveSanders and OscarTaylor.

The AndOrr teamhad a fantastic night inthe Formula 500s withSteve Anderson andJoe Orr finishing firstand second respectivelyin the first two heats

before Orr took out thethird and final heat onthe night.

C h r i s D e s s a n dSamantha Fidler con-tinued their great formwith two wins in theSidecars and MarcusSeidel and Kyle Lavertyalso won two heats.

Sam Butler won allthree heats of theWingless Sprintcarsand Terrance Hill wonall three Streetstockheats in his last meetb e f o r e t h e N TStreetstock Titles thatwill be at Arunga ParkSpeedway in just undera fortnight.