Travis Robinson and navigator Paul Currie have continued their scintillating run of form in the 2025 BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) following a convincing win at the Loveday 400.
The West Australian pairing was dominant on the final day of competition, extending a 28 second overnight lead to win the South Australian event by a comfortable 14 minute margin.
In doing so, Robinson builds on his lead in the AORC drivers’ championship standings as he chases a second national title.
Running second overnight, Kiwi sensation Boston Morgan-Horan and navigator Fergus Crabb had 58 seconds to claw back on Robinson on the final 80km section on Sunday afternoon, however a mechanical problem on the first lap cruelly cut their race short.
It gave Robinson a comfortable buffer over the next best competitor, his brother Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt, who eventually finished 14 minutes adrift in second. Completing the outright podium in a champagne day for Western Australia racers was fellow trophy truck driver Brent Smoothy.
Travis Robinson credited nine-time AORC champion Shannon Rentsch for his rich run of form in 2025.
“It’s been a good run and we’ve picked up a new method – I took six years off racing and I swore to myself that if I was ever to come back, I would use the Shannon Rentsch method. And that is ‘to finish first, first you must finish’,” said Travis. “It seems to be working out for us. It has been a flawless weekend and I just can’t thank the crew at Mason enough.
“We’ll keep moving forward, and as long as we’ve got two trucks on the podium each weekend we’ll be happy.”
Changing weather conditions and a track full of hard-edged bumps pared back the starting list for the final 80km section of the weekend on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, there was a high rate of attrition, and few drivers were as anxious behind the wheel as Brent Smoothy, who has had a wretched run of form over the past two years.
Remarkably, Loveday marked not only Smoothy’s first podium in his current Trophy Truck, but his first completion of an event altogether.
“It’s been a savage run for me, I was running second at Finke last year and we got it taken away from us. All the bad memories were coming back to me today on that last lap, I can assure you,” Smoothy said.
“The result is fantastic, to be in the company of Trav and Beau on the podium today is an incredible feeling.”
In the competitive SXS Championship, a weekend-long battle between Glen Ackroyd and Lachlan Bailey continued throughout Sunday’s 200km worth of racing.
The pair traded places throughout the five laps of racing, but in the end it was Ackroyd who prevailed after Bailey suffered a flat tyre in the morning section to take top of class, and remarkably, fourth outright at Loveday.
The result now elevates Ackroyd to first in the SXS Championship standings after three rounds.
“It was a real race to the end, it was tough out there with a lot of square-edged holes but it was fun out there, really good,” said Ackroyd.
“Lachie was very quick this morning, he actually passed me. We’ll continue to do what we do over the remaining two rounds, just drive smart and push when it works. It’s a good result.”
Jared Percival rounded out the top five, with Hayden Bentley, Lachlan Bailey, Hannah Bentley, Cooper Western and Daniel Challen completing the top 10 outright places.
All attention now turns to round four of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship, the St George 399 in Queensland on August 22-24.
