Cross-Country Rally
Australasian Safari: Series prologue summary
Prologue marks start of great WA adventure The Isuzu D-MAX of Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki has set the pace in the Auto section at the prologue for the Australasian Safari in Western Australia today. But the veteran pair are well aware that ...
Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:34 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Prologue marks start of great WA adventure
The Isuzu D-MAX of Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki has set the pace in the Auto section at the prologue for the Australasian Safari in Western Australia today.
But the veteran pair are well aware that the real challenges will come over the next seven days when the field of around 100 competitors face over 3600 gruelling kilometres.
Other pace-setters at the prologue were Honda rider, Jacob Smith, who heads the motorbike field, while local rider Heath Young has taken the top spot among the quad bikes.
The 15.84 kilometre prologue stage was held in the Mundaring forest, north east of Perth, and used some of the roads made famous by the World Rally Championship event in Western Australia.
Under beautiful clear skies with a temperature of around 20 degrees, the Safari competitors tackled a range of roads, from fast and flowing, to tight and narrow tracks that kept riders and drivers on their toes.
After finishing 11th outright in this years gruelling Dakar Rally, Sydneys Bruce Garland used his diesel-powered Isuzu to good effect, heading a strong field of four-wheel drives.
He finished four seconds clear of fellow NSW driver Kerry Turley in a Nissan Patrol, with former V8 Supercar driver, Paul Weel, third quickest in his Holden Colorado, a further 12 seconds back.
2008 Australasian Safari auto winner, Steve Riley, was sixth in his Mitsubishi Pajero, and while he was 54 seconds behind Garland, the Victorian knows the real battle starts tomorrow when the event leaves Perth enroute to Geraldton for the first of seven legs.
Jacob Smith gave Honda the perfect start in the Motorbike category, beating home Todd Smiths KTM by a solitary second. AJ Roberts put his Honda into the top three, 14 seconds off the pace.
Surprisingly, 2007 and 2008 motorbike champ, Ben Grabham, was a lowly 12th in the prologue, nearly a minute and a half behind leader Smith. The KTM rider was two seconds slower than last years runner-up, Rod Faggotter, on his factory Yamaha.
Multiple Dakar Rally winner, Josef Machacek, from the Czech Republic, was expected to set the pace right from the outset in the Quad bike class, but he finished just sixth, over two minutes from the lead.
West Australian Heath Young set a cracking pace on his KTM, finishing the 15 kilometre stage over a minute clear of Paul Smiths CAN AM, with Czech Martin Plechaty third.
John Maragozidis, the 2008 winner, was a disappointing seventh on his Polaris, three minutes and four seconds behind Young. However the South Australian is aware that the prologue stage isnt really representative of the outback Western Australian conditions that the crews will face once the event heads north.
After leaving Perth on Sunday morning, the Safari will have overnight stops in Geraldton, Mt Magnet, Leonora and Laverton, before finishing in the gold mining capital of Australia, Kalgoorlie, on Saturday, August 8. Competitors will cover over 3600 kilometres of some of the most beautiful (and rugged) terrain that Western Australia has to offer.
-credit: australasiansafari.com.au
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Schumacher visits Massa in Budapest hospital
Next article Utes: Glenn McNally Sandown Saturday notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Paul Weel
Price upgrades Trophy Truck for Baja 1000 tilt
Offroad
Offroad
Price upgrades Trophy Truck for Baja 1000 tilt
Covers come off Price Baja truck
Offroad
Offroad
Covers come off Price Baja truck
Price to lead Team Australia Baja entry
Offroad
Offroad
Price to lead Team Australia Baja entry
Latest news
Alex Marquez says overtaking Marc Marquez was “too risky” in Australian GP sprint
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
8 min
Alex Marquez says overtaking Marc Marquez was “too risky” in Australian GP sprint
Jorge Martin declared unfit for Australian GP after suffering fracture in sprint
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
41 min
Jorge Martin declared unfit for Australian GP after suffering fracture in sprint
Raul Fernandez ruled out of Australian GP, adding to Phillip Island absences
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
52 min
Raul Fernandez ruled out of Australian GP, adding to Phillip Island absences
Marc Marquez: Jorge Martin was faster but overriding in Australian GP sprint
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
1 h
Marc Marquez: Jorge Martin was faster but overriding in Australian GP sprint
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe