Season Review: Sportslite

Season Wrap: Rodney and Kodi Visser victorious in the Sportslite Buggy

The Sportslite Buggies were a regular feature in all six rounds of the 2022 BF Goodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship, with Rodney and son Kodi Visser taking home class honours by a comfortable margin.

The Vissers comfortably won the class by more than 500 over Shane Waters and Scott Watson in second place, while it was far closer in the battle for podium places as Darren Alexander and Mark Savill finished 90 points behind in third.

Competing the most rounds of any Sportslite crew in 2022, Visser walked away with maximum points on two occasions, including his first appearance for the year at the Tatts Finke Desert Race.

Visser would then back up his first class win with another, taking out the Can-Am Loveday 400 before rounded out his season a second-place at the shortened Rainbow Desert Enduro.

Starting off with the Cobb & Co Hotel St George 399, it was David and Alex Mendham who began with top honours, taking out the event, while the duo led the class after the Coomealla Memorial Club and Bendigo Bank Pooncarie Desert Dash having finished second behind James Tyrell.

Finke saw the most Sportslites in action with six crews taking part in the iconic event, however it was the Vissers who took home their first win of 2022, finishing in 22^nd overall.

Behind them were another crew making their first appearance for the year in Sam Bentley and Ben Chivell, whilst Allan David and Muir Courtney rounded out the top three.

The Can-Am Loveday 400 proved a baptism of fire for David Adams as he failed to finish the full event after recording a DNF in heat two of section five due to axle problems.

Despite failing to finish, Adams still finished second in the class behind Visser thanks to scoring points in each of his other sections.

The Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro saw three crews competing, including eventual winner Steven Graham who took home the win in just his first event for the year. Finishing behind the second placed Visser was Tyrell in his return.

The final round of the season saw competitors and crews tackle the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race.

Grabbing their first win for the year were Waters and Watson, who dominated the event taking out class honours and finishing 14^th overall. However, their mammoth points haul was not enough to challenge Rodney Visser for the AORC Sportslite Buggy title.

Darren Alexander and Mark Savill finished second, in what was their first event for the year, whilst Shannyn Fitzgerald and Andrew Fitzgerald finished third.

What the winner said:

“It feels good {to win} I’m doing this now to get my son in the sport so it was more satisfying because I got to race with my son. I enjoyed the season racing with my son, and I hope for the future he takes over and does well.”

Rodney Visser.