MOTORSPORT: Australasian Safari - Leg One

The first leg of the 'Dakar Down Under' saw man and machine battle harsh terrain and tricky navigation between Northampton and Kalbarri in West Oz.

Cars
A wise 2009 Toyota HiLux purchase had begun to pay great dividends for Dave McShane, earning him pole position in the first leg for the safari in the car division.

However, it wasn’t a completely smooth run for the Western Australian, with the car enduring mechanical faults.

"We had problems with the drive shaft in the end of the second stage, so [we] had to take it easy in the third, but otherwise the car is fantastic to drive. The Murchison River stage (SS3) was really tough, difficult to navigate and we had to be really patient through there," McShane said. He completed the first leg in 3:15:24.

Geoff Olholm and Gordon Trigg from Cairns Coconut Resort Racing, in a newer 2012 HiLux, posted a finish time of 3:17:36, earning them second place. Olhom was impressed with the amount of diversity afforded by each stage.

"The first two stages were really fun, there was plenty of sand and fast big jumps. The last stage was rocky. We caught up to the bikes who slowed us down," said the matter-of-fact desert racer.

Motorbikes
Australasian Safari stalwart Rod Faggotter snagged the first leg of the Oz Safari with a time of 2:57.58 on his 2013 Yamaha WR450F, despite enduring a difficult run on the first stage.

"The first stage was heavy sand making the bike work hard. For me, today was about getting through it and not pushing too hard. My goal was to ride smoothly and not crash," said the Queensland Yamaha retailer.

Todd Smith finished in second place, and the brother of last year's winner Jake Smith (who suffered engine failure in this year’s event) also wrestled with an unforgiving topography on his Honda CRF450X. "The first stage was really sandy and soft and the front wheel sunk. I came off and it took me a little while to get my flow back."

Smith finished the leg with a time of 2:58.34.

Towards the back of the pack, a combination of sheer luck and determination saw Warren Strange slot himself into eighth position even after his Aprilia RXV550 experienced difficulties with the fuel tank.

"In the first stage I had fuel running down my leg from a faulty fitting on the front fuel tank. I had to stop and siphon it from the front to the back fuel tank," Strange explained.

Further down the pack in ninth position, well-known rally driver Alister McRae was still adjusting to the absence of four-wheels and a co-driver on the back of his 2014 KTM 500EXC.

"I'm really enjoying it so far but still getting my head around the navigation. I'm used to having someone tell me where to drive! The second stage was really good," beamed McRae.

Czech rider Jiri Vasatko on his 1985 Honda XL600 LM and Frechman Luc Michellys on his 1983 Honda XL600 had also succumbed to soft sand on the beach sections of the leg, with the Frenchman's bike having to be towed from the sand's clutches when they were tackling the first stage. Chris Hse's 1983 BMW R65 broke down in the midst of negating the harsh landscape.

Quads
Rider Heath Young on his 2010 KTM 690 Rally braved all manner of odds and managed to lead the pack of quads after leg one.

"Nine kilometres into the second stage my map roller stopped, and the bike lost power. I couldn't manually turn it so I just followed my nose to get out of there. I had to do two tow-starts and keep it running and John [Maragozidis] helped me get going," said the youngster.

Side by Side
A dramatic tyre blow-out saw rubber entering the exhaust of Garry McConnell's side by side 2011 Polaris XP900, which set fire to the buggy and accelerated his rival, Michael Heuchman, into first place.

Italian Giuliano Airoldi and his French colleague Sebastien Delaunay wrangled their 2013 Polaris XP900E through the sand on the beaches before becoming stuck in stage 1, which forced them down into third position.

Connell was vocal about how the SXS vehicles were a match for their counterparts in the auto category in the corners, but admitted they couldn't match their pace on straight sections of the stages.

Leg 1 Results - Top 10 

Auto
McShane/Hayes 3:15:24
Olholm/Trigg 3:17:36
Harrington/Harrington 3:21:42
Weichelt/Weichelt 03:23:15
Purshouse/Mortimer 3:23:52
Travis/Travis 3:26:52
Herridge/Hill 3:27:45
Walken/Sheldrick 3:34:06
Jerie/Watman 3:34:06
Park/Copeland 3:39:00

Moto
Rodney Faggotter  02:57:58
Todd Smith 02:58:34
Matt Fish 03:02:30
Shane Diener 03:05:04
Lee Stephens 03:06:26
Vernon Strange 03:06:33
Russell Scoble 03:11:15
Warren Strange 03:11:21
Alister McRae 03:11:56
Ivan Erceg 03:15:42

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