It’s been a great opening day of the inaugural Sunraysia Safari Rally, with Rob Herridge and Sam Hill leading the event in the ‘giant killing’ Maximum Motorsport Subaru Forester XT.
The four day event started with 230km of stages, with crews heading north out of Mildura and past Wentworth in south-western NSW. Overnight rain had softened up the stages, providing a challenge for some of the exotic ‘Dakar’ style 4WDs and buggies, but playing into the hands of the near-production Subaru Forester XT.
“The conditions have really suited the Forester”, commented Rob at the end of a gruelling opening day. “I think all of the leading crews have had problems, including us. The rain has certainly helped us. The Forester is pretty capable in these types of conditions. At the first service, I think the main job was to remove about 200kg of mud that had stuck to the front of the car!”
The result is underlined by the quality of the competition, with multiple Australasian Safari winners John Hederics (Nissan Patrol) and Steve Riley (V8 Holden Ute), John Purshouse (Ford Ranger) and Luke Olholm (Dakar-style Century Buggy) all competing for the inaugural Sunraysia Safari title.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Several of the crews, including Rob and Sam, hit a stump on stage 2. Even though they won the stage, the impact did damage the front-left of the car, requiring the Maximum Motorsport team to make repairs at the lunch time service. But by the end of Stage 3 the team found a radiator hose had also been split, forcing Rob to nurse the car through the final stage of the day.
“The Forester is repaired and ready to go. We don’t have the horsepower of some of the other crews, but the Forester is pretty tough and we do have a fair bit of experience from years of competing in the Australasian Safari. So we’ll be trying to maintain our lead, and see what the day brings.”
Day 2 holds another four stages, with crews heading north past Pooncarie, and into some pretty wild country and tough conditions.
Sunraysia Safari Rally – Unofficial Day 1 Results
1. Robert Herridge, Maximum Motorsport Subaru Forester XT, 163m 54.027s
2. Steve Riley, +1m 25.225s
3. John Hederics, +3m 42.645s
4. John Purshouse, + 6m 3.663s
5. Luke Olholm, +10m 29.782s
Photo: John Doutch