Jake and Kate Swinglehurst have had the perfect start to the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race after claiming top spot in today’s Prologue session in thrilling fashion.
With 77 crews competing in the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) season finale in WA, the AORC leaders will start the race at the front of the grid after edging out three-time winner Beau Robinson by just four tenths of a second during Prologue.
Both crews put in stellar performances during Prologue, however it was the Queenslander who just managed to edge out Robinson and Jake Clucas.
In what was a major boost for the Swinglehursts’ championship charge, title rivals Ryan Taylor and Kye Floyd finished in third place just six seconds slower – giving Swinglehurst the advantage heading into tomorrow’s section.
Like the top two, the battle for third was extremely close with Taylor edged out Shane and Zane Elphinstone by less than two seconds, while a third WA local crew in Dylan Nollas and Matthew Boath rounded out the top five nine seconds slower.
While the gap between the top two was small, the difference between sixth and seventh was even smaller, with title contenders Garry and Tamara Turnbull just beating Brent Smoothy and Reece Burgess by three tenths of a second.
There were close battles all over the top 10 as local crew Troy and Deb Schoen claimed eighth by the smallest of margins – the Pro Buggy pilots just one tenth of a second ahead of James Cook and Mitch Aucote.
Despite just missing out on eighth, Cook and Aucote were in a league of their own when it came to the KINCROME SXS Motorsport Australia Championship, with the next best crew in Jason Galea and Latia Rodgers 18 seconds slower.
Rounding out the top 10 was Prolite leder and other title contenders in Mel and Liam Brandle after the South Austrlaians pipped 2021 Kalgoorlie Desert Race winners Nic Hicks and Mark Gater by three tenths.
Click here to view the full results from Prologue.
The action continues tomorrow with Section one to take place at 10am AWST.
