The CAMS Queensland Off Road Championship reaches its season finale this weekend with the Markwell Demolition 162 Challenge.
Taking place at the popular Milchester Motorsports Complex, the 10 competing crews will battle it out for ultimate bragging rights across three heats in the state’s brutal heat.
Headlining the field is current championship leader David Skinner, who is tied with BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) star Toby Whateley, on 121 points after taking victory at the previous round in June.
It’s the first time Skinner and the rest of the crews return to the Charters Towers course where he claimed that victory, however the leader isn’t getting to ahead of himself with there still lots to race for.
“We are feeling pretty positive ahead of the last round, but our main goal for this weekend is just to finish like we did last time,” Skinner said.
“I just need to focus on the one thing and that is crossing the line. That’s what we did last time and it seemed to work, whatever comes after that is a bonus.
“This is my first year in a good buggy and I am growing in confidence with my car. I have definitely pushed it hard this year so hopefully we can win and take out the championship.
“I am really looking forward to it regardless of what happens because for me, it’s just an awesome track to drive on.”
One driver looking to spoil the party and prevent Skinner from picking up back-to-back round wins for 2019 is Jan Wisse.
The SXS pilot had a round to forget in June, where he suffered clutch issues and was forced out of contention.
However Wisse was able to bounce back on the national stage a couple of months later, storming home to a class victory and an outright top 10 finish in the Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro.
Following the outstanding AORC result in Rainbow, Wisse then gained the confidence to have another serious crack at the Queensland final round.
“It’s going to be a hot race but we have a good car so we are expecting to do well,” Wisse said.
“The last time we were here, we had a massive clutch problems, however we have solved that and we are just looking forward to racing.
“After a positive weekend at Rainbow in the AORC, we are full of confidence to go well here and we hope to be in the pointy end overall.
“The track is only 54 kilometres so it’s not too demanding, but you have to be really focused because there are two really fast sections where you need to go hard on the breaks so you need to be careful not to overshoot it.
“Overall. I really love this track. It’s really nice here, it’s open and fast and it’s a really beautiful track here. I love it.”
The action gets underway from 10am for Saturday’s Prologue, with drivers then completing three sections over the course of the weekend to conclude this year’s championship.
