Champions Chat: Rick Chambers

The BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship caught up with 2018 SXS Sport class winner Rick Chambers, who managed to secure the class title in the final four minutes of the Rainbow Desert Enduro.  

Congratulations on winning the SXS Sport title, must have been lots of celebrating?

It was a bit of a shock to be honest, especially since we’ve come off racing quads and this our first year in off road racing,

We didn’t really get a chance to celebrate because at the last race in Rainbow, we were the last car to cross the line and by the time we got back, everyone had already gone home. The stewards stayed until closing time and even put us on the trailer with the starting flag to take photos, which we really appreciate.

It’s very humbling to win the class but we couldn’t have done it without our mechanics. We’re not a professional racing team, we’re just a group of boys that have raced quads together, but we all help each other which was quite touching.

Is there a particular moment that you have fond memories of?

I think eventually getting across the line at Rainbow with three minutes to go knowing the team had saved us. It wasn’t the fact that we had won the class, it’s the fact that we did it as a team.

Dare we ask, was there a moment you would like to forget?

I ran off at St George multiple times which wasn’t nice as the trees were so close to the track. Getting onto the track is also scary because there is so much dust and you don’t know when the cars are coming behind.

Another bad moment was when we broke the frame at Rainbow, I blame myself because I was hitting the jumps too hard. However for us to drive 15kms with the axel tied up, then replace it and continue driving all within 40 minutes was pretty impressive. I suppose the worst moment of our season ended up being one of the most special.

Who would you like to thank after the special year?

Bradley Geraghty, who is a driver in the team’s other car is the most passionate bloke in our team that sorts out everything that we need. Also his younger brother Pat who was my co-driver and another Geraghty brother in Michael was the mechanic at St George.

I would also like to thank Garth Thompson who came down to Rainbow as a mechanic in the last round. It was a team effort, all these people putting in time and effort is what makes this title so special.

What are the plans for 2019?

We enjoyed the Championship so much that we actually modified our buggies again and now we’re ready to go and do all three AORC races again because we really enjoyed ourselves.

Every race is different which we like. In 2019, a fair few Alice Springs locals are going to join us now, which is fantastic because one thing I really enjoyed this year was just chatting, laughing and hanging out with the group at the end of each day. It’s something we’re not used to doing here in Alice.