Shannon and Ian Rentsch have claimed a history-making ninth BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) after taking outright honours at the Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro today.
The father and son duo completed a clean sweep of the AORC, winning all three rounds in 2018, including a record sixth Tatts Finke Desert Race.
Shannon Rentsch was thrilled with today’s race win and admitted that his team had put together a pretty faultless performance this year.
“It couldnโt really get any better. It was almost perfect,” Rentsch said.
“Getting the three wins at each round was awesome. Hard to believe we have won nine (Championships) now.
“I’m starting to feel a bit old now. Itโs good to see all the hard work over the years has paid off.”
Home in second today was Outer Bounds Racing’s Beau Robinson, pleased to grab a solid result after a couple of recent events ended with mechanical issues.
“It was a good weekend all round. It was good to finish and have a good run,” Robinson said.
“It was pretty tough, we had a lot of rain at the start of the weekend which made it chaos.
“Shannon did a good job. It was good for BFGoodrich for him to be up front and obviously us keeping the trucks going.”
Making his Rainbow Desert Enduro debut this weekend, off road legend Mark Burrows enjoyed his first hit out the event and it showed, Burrows completing today’s five-lap race in the fastest time.
“It has been a great weekend,” Burrows said.
“We had a really good prologue and the weather was perfect for it.
“We have had a great day today, had virtually no troubles at all. We went with the one pit stop strategy which worked really well for us.”
With competitors tackling a gruelling 375 kilometres today, there were some that failed to make it to the chequered flag.
Eighth outright yesterday, Justin Watt was forced to retire his Alumi Craft Trophy Truck due to electrical issues before completing his first lap, while off road stalwart Geoff Pickering had a rare retirement in his Mitsubishi Pajero Production 4WD, also on his first lap.
Young-gun Josh Howells found the going tough today after a strong third outright yesterday, getting bogged twice in the sandy conditions and losing a stack of time.
Last year’s winners Greg Gartner and Jamie Jennings looked to be in the mix for a podium again until they were forced to stop on two separate occasions to change punctured tyres on the Geiser Bros Trophy Truck.
In the class battles, Rentsch and Robinson took out the Pro Buggy and Extreme 2WD wins respectively, while Alan Dixon and Jonathan O’Connor claimed the Prolite win and secured the Australian class title in the process.
Jeff McNiven and Andrew Reid earned a hard-fought SXS Turbo class win while Zachary Marsh and James Clarke took out the SXS Sport win.
In the Super 1650 Buggies it was Peter Stevenson first across the line while Matthew and Shaydon Witmitz won the Production 4WD class.
Rainbow Desert Enduro Outright – Top Ten (Provisional)
1. #33 Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch 5:02:57.705
2. #413 Beau Robinson/Shane Hutt 5:14:52.599
3. #21 Mark Burrows Colin Hodge/Mathew Burrows 5:29:36.589
4. #410 Greg Gartner/Jamie Jennings 5:33:53.659
5. #482 Michael Magher/Daniel Hose 5:50:19.581
6. #153 Alan Dixon/Jonothan O’Connor 5:56:29.300
7. #603 Jeff McNiven/Andrew Reid 6:05:52.831
8. #621 Toby Whateley/Simon Herrmann 6:09:07.815
9. #26 Nathan Monk/Daniel Monk/Damian Monk 6:14:09.773
10. #15 Josh Howells/Bryan Erskine 6:14:25.386
Section 2 Outright – Top Ten (Provisional)
1. #21 Mark Burrows/Colin Hodge/Mathew Burrows 4:22:26.812
2. #33 Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentch 4:31:58.538
3. #482 Michael Magher/Daniel Hose 4:34:52.883
4. #413 Beau Robinson/Shane Hutt 4:42:49.335
5. #431 Brett Taylor/Chris Henspeter 5:00:39.304
6. #410 Greg Gartner/Jamie Jennings 5:01:56.599
7. #153 Alan Dixon/Jonothan O’Connor 5:10:49.206
8. #15 Josh Howells/Bryan Erskine 5:12:23.497
9. #603 Jeff McNiven/Andrew Reid 5:16:48.549
10. #26 Nathan Monk/Daniel Monk/Damian Monk 5:17:01.767
View full results here.
View the Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro image gallery here.
