The official BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship points score has been updated with round one winner Josh Howells leading the charge.
While there have been some changes to the championship’s scoring system, the points-per-section regulation has remained, giving opportunity to all drivers to score valuable points each round.
Following the Cobb & Co Hotel St George 399, Howells leads the way after producing the fastest time in the opening two sections of the event.
Despite taking his foot off the pedal and picking up the sixth fastest time in the final lap of the two-day event, the New South Welshman had done enough to end the weekend with 29.8 points.
In outright second place and just under two points behind the outright leader is Extreme 2WD class winner Greg Gartner.
Click here to view the full drivers championship points table.
The veteran Victorian was the only driver in the whole field to pick up top five finishes over all three sections – his best run coming on the Sunday where he posted the second and third fastest times respectively across the two sections.
The battle for third went down right the wire with less than half a point separating the three contenders in Michael Spokes, Jason Richards and Shane Elphinstone.
Richards actually got the better start of the three before his Prolite rival in Spokes got to within half a point by the end of the second section. Spokes then confirmed his place in the top three after posting the second fastest time on the final section.
Last year’s BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia West Australian Off Road Championship winner Shane Elphinstone settled for fifth place after having a little less consistency throughout the weekend.
Recording the sixth and eighth fastest time on the opening two stages, Elphinstone still proved himself as a dark horse for the 2021 outright title – picking up the fastest time of the final section.
WA superstar Beau Robinson sits in seventh place just ahead of SXS Turbo winner Jeff McNiven, despite not finishing the final section thanks to a solid first two sections where he placed third in each one.
It’s a similar story for reigning AORC champion Mark Burrows who finished the day in 10th place thanks to two top 10 finishes in the opening sections.
As for the battle of the other classes, 2012 AORC champion Hayden Bentley sits just outside the top 10 but leading the Extreme 4WD and the 13th placed Dean MeGinley finishes the round at the top of the Sportslite standings.
Simon Tucker is currently leading the Super 1650 and Geoff Pickering is winning the Production 4WD class.
Click here to view the class driver points.
Click here to view the class navigator points.
As for the navigators, Howell’s navigator Eric Hume leads the way ahead of Gartner’s partner Jamie Jennings, while Brad Rogan is in third place.
Click here to view the full navigators championship points table.
The next round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship will be the iconic Tatts Finke Desert Race on 10-14 June.
Photo: Terry Hill Photography
