MOTORSPORT: Australasian Safari Leg Three

After the excitement and lead changes of Leg Two, the third leg of the 2015 Australasian Safari proved a more settled day for event leaders Steve Riley and John Doble.

Riley, a three-time Safari winner, took the first stage of the day to extend the team’s lead to 13 minutes, but admits the crew is near the limit: "We’ve been pushing really hard. We’re running out of tyres, we’re running out of parts and we’re probably running out of luck, though I hope not," he said, after encountering a mob of camels on the track on the first stage, a 147.15km test known as Gifford.

Second on the stage was the McShane/Hayes Tacoma, 2min14sec behind.

Despite having no clutch throughout the day, the Fancied Ford Ranger of John Purshouse and Murray Hines was able to make up for lost time, finishing third on the morning test before taking Eudamalla in the afternoon. At 288.64km, it’s the longest of the event. The crew lost most of the previous night rebuilding the front differential that had failed them on Leg Two.

"We’re really happy with today and have a steady pace. Hopefully there’s a clutch waiting for us at Exmouth tomorrow," Purshouse said.

The Ranger headed home the consistent Scanlon/Nunns, who solidified their second position outright, with Riley and Doble finishing the stage third.

In the Safari Challenge for standard four-wheel drive vehicles, motoring.com.au’s Matt Brogan and Julia Barkley continued to progress, taking their Jeep Wrangler Rubicon X to a stage win on Gifford closing the gap to leader Matt Raudonikis and Ian Wheeler by 9min 2sec.

Results were revesed once more on the afternoon test, Raudonikis taking the stage by 14min 46sec. He lead overnight by around 45 minutes.

As Brogan prepared for Leg Four, he told motoring.com.au: "When they told me this was a tough event, I think they were understating it," he said of his Safari so far. "It’s torturous. Hard on the cars and hard on the driver and navigator. But despite that, it’s an awesome experience and the Jeeps are handling things really well.

"We’ve had a couple of flat tyres which have hurt our times, but we’re looking after the Wrangler and it’s looking after us. Leg Four is really long, so hopefully we can pick up a couple of minutes today."

Leg Four departs from Gascoyne Junction for Exmouth, where crews will be based overnight for the next two days.