2013 Australian GP Offroad Nationals were held at the Sunshine Offroad Car Club in Victoria. Much speculation surrounded the track after the State Championships in 2010 where the track blew out due to the SUPER Hot conditions and water restrictions. With the massive effort Alan Nankervis and the Sunshine Track crew put in, it turned out to be the exact oposite, one of the best tracks in Australia.
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Better luck for Alan driving a neat race even after his tyres went off bumping up into the A-Main. Nick Morris having very little track time over the last 12 months consolidated his position in the Semi and bumped into the A-main. The ever consistent Brendhan Wade did the same making it two A-Main Truggy finals in two years.
A-Main Final for Truggy had 3 XRAY's Brendhan Wade keeping his nose clean for the whole 60min Race finishing the highest out of them all in 8th place, Nick MOrris was close behind in 9th who also had a flawless race, Alan Nankervis finished a strong 10th after a steering issue early in the race drove an excellent second half to crawl his way back up the ladder.
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Truggy final results:
1. Craig LAUGHTON WA
2. Kyle MCBRIDE QLD
3. Andrew FOORD SA
4. Aaron STRINGER QLD
5. Jason DYCKHOFF qld
6. Shane KELLY ACT
7. Simon PAGE S.A 8. Brendhan WADE NSW - XRAY XT8
9. Nick MORRIS ACT - XRAY XT8
10. Alan NANKERVIS VIC - XRAY XT8'09
11. Jesse NEWMAN QLD
12. Jacob WILSON QLD
13. John BATEMAN
14. David SIMMS WA
15. Paul GOODIE Vic
Buggy was always going to be the harder class, and it showed. The pace up front was super fast. Ari Bakla heading the XRAY team Qualifying 6th Overall, new Team XRAY recruite Kevin Lewis come to grips with the car late in Qualifying 22nd overall, Brendhan Wade 24th, Nick Morris 25th, Luke Rich 26th and the returned retiree Ron Maya in 38.
Buggy Finals saw Nick Morris bump all the way up to the Semi just missing out on a A-Main Final spot finishing 10th. Semi B had Ari Bakla finishing 2nd, Brendhan Wade, Ron Maya & Kev Lewis in a freight train 10th,11th & 12th just missing the cut. It was Ari Bakla the lone soldier in the A-Main, starting strongly running around in 3rd place for the first 20 mins, dropping back to fourth half way through just didnt have the raw pace as the top three. Ari mentioned heavier diffs were needed in the car, running 5fr, 7ctr,3rr was too light and just couldnt get on the power as early as needed.
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Buggy final results:
Pos Name Location
1. Kyle MCBRIDE QLD
2. Matt GRIFFIN Vic
3. Aaron STRINGER QLD 4. Ari BAKLA NSW - XRAY XB9'13
5. Jesse NEWMAN QLD
6. Jarred KING NSW
7. Jason DYCKHOFF qld
8. Kc SHORE Nsw
9. Kristian LOHSE Qld
10. Dale SMULDERS WA
11. Zac RYAN
12. Martin WOLHUTER WA
13. Glenn BREUGEM SA
14. Jarrod CURRIE SA
15. Craig LAUGHTON WA
