James Mogford has set his sights on the Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championships (AORC) SXS Pro class title ahead of the season finale in Kalgoorlie next month.
The season-long fight for class honours and the outright Motorsport Australia SXS Championship will reach its conclusion when Mogford and co battle it out at the Kalgoorlie Desert Race in October – with four main contenders currently leading the pack for top honours.
For class honours, two-time round winner, James Cook currently leads the way with 1645.8 points to his name but sits less than 100 points ahead of the Mogford in second.
Since Kalgoorlie is the last round of the season, 900 points will be up for grabs for the class winner – with all remaining places also multiplied by 1.5 on top of their usual point rewards.
This means that a class win would guarantee Mogford heads home with the trophy in hand, with a second place finish not enough to protect Cook from the 77.8 point gap he currently holds.
Heading into the round, Mogford is arguably in the better form of the two – with the Queenslander’s lowest finish of the season coming in the opening round when he finished fourth in class alongside navigator, Michael Mogford.
Since then, two third places and a second place finish sees the 36-year-old as arguably Cook’s biggest threat to the title.
While Cook and Mogford go into the final round as the favourites to take out the 2023 title, they will also have the impressive pairing of Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt as well as the red-hot Greg and Lachlan Campbell in their rear-view mirror – with both certain to take advantage of any opportunity that comes their way.
As for the outright Motorsport Australia SXS Championship, Mogford sits in fourth place and will need to make up at least 42 points on the leading Campbell, while also outlasting both Brinkman and Cook in the process with up to 150 points up for grabs.
Ahead of the season finale, Mogford was confident that if he sticks to his guns he will no doubt walk away with the ultimate glory.
“We are happy to be in second place in the class leading into the finale,” Mogford said.
“It’s been a lot of work but we are pushing hard for the result. We started this season with the plan to take the Aussie title, and that plan has not changed.
“We go in with the same game plan as we always have, we have to drive smart and clean and make sure we get across that finish line.
“We are happy with our performance to date we just need to continue do what we have already done.
“The team puts in countless hours before each race to make it happen, the race result is just the reward of that, so I am very grateful for them.”
More information on the AORC finale can be found here.
The final round of the Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship will take place at the Kalgoorlie Desert Race on 19-22 October.
