MOTORSPORT: Australasian Safari

V8 Supercar legend Craig Lowndes is out of the 2011 Australasian Safari after rolling his Holden Colorado this morning, with another competitor towing him back to the finish of the 215km stage 10.

The Lowndes saga dominated the auto airwaves, while it was also a day of high drama in moto with the in-form Shane Diener (Yamaha WR450F) forced out of stage 11 with mechanical problems -- and with it any chance of winning the Safari as a rookie.

At the time of the crash, Lowndes and his navigator John Panozzo held a convincing 20-minute lead over Steve Riley/John Doble (Mitsubishi Pajero) in the overall standings, before the brutal and unpredictable nature of rally racing caught out the multiple Bathurst 1000 champion just a few kilometres before the end of stage 10.

And just to sharpen the blow, Lowndes and Panozzo were forced to begin their own roadside repairs in ‘Marathon Day’, which means that no vehicle servicing is allowed by support crews. Any repairs to vehicles must be done by the competitors themselves with the tools in their possession.

But Lowndes and Panozzo weren’t able to apply enough band-aid treatment to the Colorado to nurse it back to tonight’s base in Leonora.

Penalties will now be imposed, but Lowndes is still determined to complete the event.

"We were going along well at the 180km mark, just taking it easy, when the accident happened," said Lowndes. "It was a soft sandy turn so we weren’t hurt.

"We were going around a left-hand corner in second gear, just clipped a tree and ricocheted off it and the left hand rear rim dug in and the car just slid onto its side.

“It’s disappointing we damaged the car but we’ll see where we are situated tomorrow after the time penalty has been allocated.”

Riley/Doble led a Mitsubishi trifecta in stage 10, and in stage 11 it was John Purhouse/Adrian McShane who came out on top.

Despite finishing seventh in stage 10 after suspension problems curtailed their efforts, Riley/Doble still lead the Safari by a seemingly impenetrable 77 minutes over Terry Conner/Jodi Conner (Nissan GQ), and hold all the aces with just two days of competition remaining. A victory for Riley would make it three Safari victories for the likeable New South Wales farmer.

But his team is not taking anything for granted, and plans to replace all the 'fatigue-able' bits on the Pajero before racing resumes early tomorrow morning.

Purhouse/McShane are another hour further back in third position, with the nine auto entrants now spread out by nearly nine hours.

MOTO UPDATE

With Diener now out of the mix -- although he's still planning to be back on deck for leg six -- the stage is now set for a battle royal between the siblings, Todd and Jacob Smith (both Honda CRF450X), for outright honours – unless one or both of them is also added to the rapidly growing DNF list.

Todd leads Jacob by 12 minutes and 14 seconds (12:14), with Rod Faggotter (Yamaha WR450F) – riding with a broken knuckle – now third, followed by Cyril Despres (KTM 450 Rally) and Damien Grabham (Husaberg FE570).

Grabham was well back in stage 11 after mechanical problems, but he was then towed back to based at Leonora by teammate Michael Heuchan – with some loose wire he procured from a decaying fence!

Young Briton Sam Sunderland (FE570), who hit a kangaroo at full noise on day one, was a deserved winner of stage 11 despite one bingle, with Todd Smith and Jacob Smith again filling the minor placings.

Italian Manuel Lucchese (FE570) broke his nose today in a 140km/h crash, but hopes to continue into the penultimate day of competition.

QUAD UPDATE

John Maragozidis (MMR Interceptor 850) only has to go move into slow mode over the final two days, which will be more than enough to protect his four-hour-plus lead over Can-An rider Colin Lawson (Renegade). Neville Yeatman (Can-Am Commander) is the third and final rider still in action.