The Brisbane Sporting Car Club hosts its popular Thornton Short Course this weekend as around 30 crews go head-to-head in Queensland’s final off road event for the year.
Taking place in the picturesque Lockyer Valley, the event will see crews split into different groups where they will battle it out on the 7km course across five heats each.
The entry list for this weekend’s event is the highlight and features a number of highly talented campaigners, some of which regularly compete in the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC).
Headlining the impressive field is off road veteran Brett Comiskey, who has been enjoying life behind the wheel of the old Shannon Rentsch probuggy and claiming lots of success, including September’s Dam Buster 250 in St George.
Comiskey isn’t the only AORC regular running this weekend with SXS Turbo star Jeff McNiven also one expected to be float around the front of the field.
Despite having not raced in Thornton for quite some time, McNiven is confident of picking up a good result after getting his car to the strongest it’s ever been.
“It’s been quite a while since I raced at Thornton but I know it’s an awesome track. It was one of the first short courses I ever took part in back in 2016,” McNiven said.
“We are competing for outright now, especially in short course events like this. I feel the car is very good and we have just fixed an issue so we should be faster now, which is great.
“The 2020 car is noticeably faster than last year’s car. Where we were losing our long straight speed is now fixed and we have less disadvantages now. The car is quicker in the tight turns and on the rough, so our average speed is going to be up significantly which will help us out – especially since we are planning to do the AORC again next year.
“We have also had a good year so far so we should have a good weekend. We have double entered the car so my regular navigator in Frank Waite will get the opportunity to drive with our mechanic co-driving for him, while my daughter will navigate for me.
“It’s great because we get to have a little internal rivalry and so I am really looking forward to it.”
While McNiven and Comiskey will certainly be expecting to be contending for top honours, it’s Tait Svenson who will be going into the event as the favourite, with the experienced competitor more than familiar with the course.
Add his success at smaller events this year, and Tait will be full to the brim of confidence. Like McNiven, Tait’s car will be marked as a double entry with father Laurence to share the car.
Other drivers who will fancy their chances for success on the weekend include Ryan Taylor, who is considered one of the biggest outright contenders, Campbell Smith and Myles Newborn in the Extreme 2WD class, New South Wales rally winner driver Glen Brinkman and Pat Philp.
The Thornton Short Course takes place in Lockyer Valley on 14-15 November and gets underway on 10am Saturday morning.
