The CAMS Victorian Off Road Championship (VORC) is back for another year with a host of big names taking part in the first of the six round season.
While the 2019 season begins with a new event, it happens to be on familiar territory as the country town of Rainbow hosts the Rainbow Rises 240 – an event considerd perfect preparation for August’s BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship third round.
Despite taking place on some of the same parts of track, it will have a different feel as the 23 entries will tackle 240 competitive kilometres across three sections, instead of the mammoth 500 kilometres to be undertaken in August.
With two competitions to take place over the weekend, VORC registered drivers will complete 28 laps of the 8.7km course, while Victorian Off Road Club Shield registered competitors will do 18 laps in a shortened event.
While 2018 champion Alan Dixon is yet to confirm his entry, the dynamic entry list features some of the state’s big players including Justin Watt, Jim Coombs, Eric Schlifelner and Nigel Pendlebury, each headlining their own category.
Schlifelner leads the seven crew Sportslite class, the largest of the day with two interstate crews in Steven and Daryl Graham from New South Wales and South Australians Adian Gardiner and Harvey Woodforde featuring in the class.
The four-car Pro Buggy Class also has one set of South Australians and New South Welshmen competing against the Victorians on their own turf with Jake Freckleton and Toby Hederics coming in from the north, while Kieran Kelly and David Sumak are making the trip from South Australia.
Coombs and Pendlebury will go head-to-head in the four car Super 1650 Buggy drivers class while Watt will be joined by his two co-drivers in Melissa Watt and Kruiz Jenkins for his battle against Craig and Adam Button in the Extreme 2WD class.
The Prolite Buggy and SXS turbo classes each have two drivers competing while Matthew Boxshall and Dean Williams will be the sole drivers in the Extreme 2WD class and Sportsman Buggy class respectively.
With this being the only event held at Rainbow ahead of August’s national event, off road fans are encouraged to make their way to Rainbow to get a piece of the action.
The Rainbow Rises will take place at Rainbow on 10 March with the first section to commence at 10.30am local time.
