round 1 2008 Landcruiser Mountain Park
The Mickey Thompson SSS Winch Challenge is a brand new series started by Peter Stirling and Alben Perrett.
Held in the rugged terrain north of the tiny forestry township of Jimna a couple of hours northwest of Brisbane, it proved to be a demanding test for the teams and an exciting event for the spectators.
The event kicked off on Friday night with stages 1 and 2 held in the Expo Gully with two vehicles racing side by side on separate tracks easily viewable by the spectators.
Both vehicles came back later and started on the opposite track and whilst the competitors finished too far apart to gauge times it was easy to see who did better on the various obstacles.
The step up over logs at the finish line saw a number of large wheel lifts much appreciated by the surrounding spectators.
Stages 3 and 4 were held on Saturday morning at a small amphitheatre on Kings Road utilising one steep hillside allowing side by side racing again.
One tree in particular caused more than its fair share of panel damage as competitors winched down while trying to do a dog leg curve in the loose soil of the side slope to clear it.
Stage 5 in the same amphitheatre involved a water crossing right before a steep hill, the hill became undercut as the day wore on causing chassis to be dragged over the top and leaving wheels hanging in mid air.
Stage 6 at the top end of the amphitheatre allowed the competitors to use all of the power as they sped across the hillside with some large dirt plumes and sideways action on the bottom sideslope and again as they sped down the fenceline through the finish line corner.
Sunday Morning saw the competitors line up at a section of creek behind the park office with stages 7 & 8 side by side.
The two stages crossed the creek and up a huge bank that saw more than one winching attempt end in failure before driving a large circle back through the creek again to the start finish line.
Stage 9 crossed the creek below the other stages with a tight angled climb between two “no touching” markers making it almost compulsory to winch to avoid sliding into one of them
Stage 10 was held a little down the creek with a side angle climb up a rockface beside a pair of trees that saw plenty of close up action, the finish line was beyond a deep and muddy creek crossing forcing most of the field to break out the ground anchors to winch themselves up the soft soil bank.
With the comp now over the competitors returned to the expo site for photos and “stage eleven” which all the competitors enjoyed immensely … you’ll have to turn up to the next round to find out about that one!
stages 1 and 2 were held in the expo gully on Friday night with two vehicles racing side by side on separate tracks easily viewable by the spectators.
Stages 3 and 4 were held on Saturday morning at a small ampitheater on Kings Road utilising one steep hillside allowing side by side racing again.
stage 5 had a water crossing while stage 6 had the nearby hillside
Sunday Morning saw the competition move to over behind the Park office along the creek, tracks 7 and 8 were once again side by side racing.
Tracks 9 and 10 were held a little further down the creek.
RESULTS:_____________________________________________________________________________
Overall scores for Modified Class in this series are :
Car Number
Driver
Navigator
Total Points
First 31
Greg Jackson
Brent Griffin
867
Second 36
Scott Purkis
Joshua Foster
809
Third 37
Rob Marshall
Joel Jeffry
802
Fourth 44
Brad Drummond
Phil Macready
719
Fifth 33
Ashlie Enright
Michael Baucock
697
Sixth 38
Derek Priestly
Paul Espig
697
Seventh 35
Jason Wotherspoon
Errold Misso
687
Eighth 39
Brian Gregg
Wil Neilson
678
Ninth 32
Michael Camac
Glen Hollings
607
Tenth 43
Peter von Pein
Jane von Pein
578
Eleventh 41
Christian Trusz
Terry Kane
556
Twelth 40
Ashley Bunney
Warren Bunney
533
Thirteenth 42
Darren Blackburn
Karl Chaney
527
Fourteenth 34
Robert Marks
Michael Marks
432
Overall scores for Standard Class in this series are :
Car Number
Driver
Navigator
Total Points
First 1
Kevin McCord
Glen MacDougal
547
Stage Winners are:
SS1: Jason Wotherspoon & Errold Misso
SS2: Greg Jackson & Brent Griffin
SS3: Scott Purkis & Joshua Foster
SS4: Darren Blackburn & Karl Chaney
SS5: Greg Jackson & Brent Griffin
SS6: Rob Marshall & Joel Jeffry
SS7: Ashlie Enright & Michael Baucock
SS8: Greg Jackson & Brent Griffin
SS9: Peter von Pein & Jane von Pein
SS10: Derek Priestly & Paul Espig
