Bushfires glowed red and lightning put on a spectacular show with multiple strikes lighting up the ominous black clouds along the ranges surrounding Landcruiser Mountain Park as I made my way northwest from Brisbane on Thursday afternoon.
Rain was threatening as I drove up through the green and brown patchwork of forests past the small township of Jimna but I had time to set up camp before the first drops raised little puffs of dust on the bonnet.
Campsite were silhouetted against the sky on every ridge overlooking the Expo site and all the grassy slopes within walking distance were packed with tents but I chose to camp out in the park in a nice little grassy flat beside a small gully with the country music occasionally floating past on the wind.
With nearly a dozen artists playing from noon on Thursday the Country music fans were well catered for and the small patches of rain only served to dampen the dust so my preparations against the threatening storms were not fully justified.
The first 4WD event began just after lunch on Friday and was a whole new event sponsored by All 4X4 Parts at Minden.
The Go to Whoa utilised the old Hills Drags strip but the competitors had to stop with their front wheels between two lines at the top of the hill.
Three classes are available but no one entered the 2WD Ute class so the Standard 4WD and Modified 4WD classes were left to battle it out up the short gravelled track.
Some of the more highly powered vehicles had trouble trying to keep in a straight line from the start but many of the vehicles slid past the lines at the stop point and had to reverse back.
Some of the more “over enthusiastic” competitors slid sideways trying to stop but as both front wheels had to be between the lines they had to straighten their vehicles to finish wasting a lot of time.
After the heats were run the top 10 in each class battled it out for the Trophies with another two runs each.
Leila Chapman won the Modified 4WD Class while Clayton Chapman won the Standard 4WD Class.
Just on Dark the Bull Riding started drawing quite a crowd away from the music for an action packed couple of hours but the fans were soon back to the stage area.
Tania Kernaghan was one of the feature artists on the Friday night and after performing several songs she had the honour of unveiling the new 2010 Toyota Prado amidst lots of flashing lights and much fanfare.
Saturday morning saw the Clarion 4WD and 2WD Ute Muster flashing lots of chrome and flags under a clearing blue sky with Bill Geddes taking out the best overall prize.
After lunch the ARB and Goodyear Autocare Super Rally X heats drew the crowds away from the music again, the jump saw quite a few airborne vehicle land a little out of shape and a few loses really mixed up the results.
Deep ruts were forming in the soft dirt, particularly in the Esses so there was quite a bit of two wheel action.
After someone hit the left hand log rail earlier in the year the whole left side of the bridge was replaced but the dark green jeep came very close to taking out the right hand side of the bridge after coming into the previous corner a fair bit out of shape, he managed to wrestle it back on to the track again but lost a few valuable seconds.
The Bull riding was back on again as the sun set providing lots of thrills and even more spills with one of the contestants needing medical attention.
After the Bulls had won more than their share of battles the crowd returned to the main stage for more of the musical entertainment into the small hours.
The finals of the Rally Cross kicked off early on Sunday morning with the competitors getting straight into it, no mucking around!
The jumps were getting bigger and bigger as the competitors tested the limits of their vehicles, or maybe it was the red mist setting in, either way the crowd were loving it.
The action wasn’t confined to the jump though; the ruts formed in the track at all the corners were causing major dramas when the vehicles slid over the edges with several competitors losing a lot of time due to a lose.
Clayton Chapman won through in the Standard Class to take out a well deserved win in his Triton Ute while Brent Perrett took out the Modified Class in his twin turbo V8 Patrol.
While results were being tallied the Toyota versus Nissan grudge match went ahead with both vehicles having the new Goodyear Kevlar MT/R’s fitted for the race.
Brent Perrett in his twin turbo’d V8 GU patrol Ute raced Myles Newbon in the Hilux styleside bodied V8 on a Patrol Chassis but after two round it was declared a draw and they both received the tyres as a prize.
The threatening storms had stayed away allowing an enjoyable weekend for Fans, Competitors and Spectators alike, bring on Mud Bulls and Music 2010 !!
. Shane Gerrish
::All 4x4 Parts Go to Woe::
Standard Class:
1st Clayton Chapman 13.40 sec
2nd Rob Chapman
3rd Roger Vickery
4th Kevin McCord
5th Chris Hammond
Modified Class:
1st Leila Chapman 11.87 sec
2nd Dan Brown
3rd Clayton Chapman
4th Evan Pradella
5th Rob Chapman
::ARB & Goodyear Super Rally Cross::
Standard Class:
1st Clayton Chapman 1.26.74
2nd Rob Chapman
3rd Roger Vickery
4th Ben de Brueys
5th Brent Perrett
Modified Class:
1st Brent Perrett 1.23.61
2nd Clayton Chapman
3rd Myles Newbon
4th Rob Chapman
5th Paul Thatcher
The Goodyear Kevlar Knockout, Toyota vs Nissan, was fought out between Brent Perrett for Nissan and Myles Newbon for Toyota.
This was run following the finals of the Super Rally Cross as a grudge match between the two. Both vehicles were fitted with the new Kelvar MT/R's on site to race with.
After 2 rounds it was a tie so Goodyear kindly awarded both drivers a set of new Kevlar MT/R tyres.
::CLARION UTE MUSTER::
4WD’s - Best Overall: Bill Geddes
Chicks 4wd : 1st Kylie Row 2nd Romana McCall
Feral 4wd: 1st Mick Legge 2nd Micky De
3rd Evan Pradella
Promotional 4wd: 1st Dan Brown 2nd Romana McCall
3rd Mark Petersen
Extreme 4wd: 1st Bill Geddes 2nd Drew Schultz
3rd Clay Richards
Work 4wd: 1st Howard Fiedler 2nd Brad Goltz
3rd Jean Fielder
2WD’S - Best Overall: Christopher Dix
Feral 2wd: 1st Rum Can 2nd Travis Milne
3rd Nick Andrews
Restored 2wd: 1st Corey Pereira 2nd Stephanie
Nielsen
Chicks 2wd : 1st Tanya Mundey 2nd Amy Litfin
3rd Amanda Featherstone
Aussie 2wd : 1st Dugald Watts 2nd Christopher
Dix 3rd Joe Bradley
Bundy 2wd: 1st Christopher Dix 2nd Grant
Shuttleworth 3rd Rum Can
EXHIBITION SITE:
GO TO WHOA:
PERFORMERS:
Tania Kernaghan
UNVEILING OF THE NEW PRADO:
RALLY CROSS HEATS:
BULL RIDING:
RALLY CROSS FINALS:
