Chadburn drove the number 32 Mitsubishi Evo powered Supaboot RV2 hard to a time of 54m52.92s, finishing the three heats, each of three laps, on top of the leader board.

The turbo Honda number 80 Razorback of Glen Towers and Jamie Adams slotted into second place in a time of 54m54.45s, however, the Towers crew kept visiting the hot work area in the pits after each heat to weld the front stubs.

The number 19 V8 Chev Jimco piloted by Justin Guy powered into third in 58m02.10s for Saturday’s three heats.

Perfect weather and track conditions greeted the field of 29 New South Wales ‘Off Road Championship’ contenders as they battled it out for outright and class placing. The clouds rolled in but the rain stayed away.

In a change of pace, Buddy Crowe has swapped his number 4 Jimco driver’s seat for the navigators side in the Runamuk Racings number 144 ProLite; passing on his racing prowess to son Buddy Junior in his second outing in the new drive after gearbox issues at Warialda.

In an action packed day of off road racing, the most spectacular mishap of the day went to Gerard Bawden and Nathan Weisell when the number 78 Pro buggy rolled after it nosed dived off a jump into the front left and barrel rolled into a tree. In a true show of perseverance, the crew shook themselves off an in a remarkable recovery fronted up for heat two, only to have axle dramas. Not to be deterred the team returned to the start line for heat three, but a blown head gasket finally ended their day and weekend.

Another to surrender to the Crookwell track was the Super 1650 number 258 of Warren and Tammy Barron, rolling on the first corner of the first lap. The crew put the buggy back on its wheels, got back in and belted up, returned to the track only to realise the gearbox and clutch had failed. The Super 1650 stopping later that lap.

Jimco Kearle with Lauren Ottey in the navigator’s seat were out of the days racing in heat two with rear axle and hub failure in the JK1 number 114 ProLite

Tom Dixon shattered the front engine pulley on his number 439 Extreme 2WD machine, ending the teams Crookwell campaign.

The number 507 Performance 2WD of Mark-Paul Grant and Michelle Roberts had gearbox problems and were hoping to repair it overnight but ultimately could not.

On Sunday morning competitors at the Crookwell Gravel Pit Challenge awoke to a cold, fog soaked morning, but not to be deterred, 21 of the 29 entries fronted the start line for the morning’s ten lap heat. The breeze dispersed the fog, but the chill factor was high. A slight shower after lunch settled the dust for the final heat, resulting in ideal racing conditions.

Overnight leader Dale and Malcolm Chadburn were the first to salute the checkered flag after putting down consistent lap times for today’s 13 laps of competition. The team cruised through the ten lap heat in the morning, driving the number 32 Mitsubishi Evo powered Supaboot RV2 sensibly in the last of the three lap heats that afternoon to safeguard their victory, ultimately finishing the event with an 11 minute gap back to second place.

Fighting for the lead on Saturday with Chadburn was Glen Towers and Jamie Adams, however the number 80 Razorback only clocked up three laps, out with axle and gearbox issues.

Chasing down Chadburn was the number 19 V8 Chev Jimco of Justin and Tony Guy, unable to rein in the overnight gap and time lost in the pits on lap 4. The team replaced the alternator in the Jimco overnight with a pit stop needed to re attach a loose battery in the morning section.

A mammoth effort was produced by the husband and wife team of Scott and Michelle McNeill, securing third outright in their new drive. The McNeill’s stepped up into ProLite class with the number 122 McNeill Custom Special after many successful years campaigning in Super 1650 class. This is the second outing for the new machine and a sign that they’re in the hunt for outright Championship contention.

Fourth outright and taking first in the Extreme 2WD class was another husband and wife crew, The number one engineering team of Paul and Fay Grant, clocking in on the time sheets only 24 seconds ahead of fifth outright and first in Super 1650, the Warialda based team of Derreck Rose and Luke Gilkison.

The first and only Sportsman buggy to rack up full race distance was the Gary Hyde and Gary Sullivan number 335, earning the class honours and sixth outright, with young gun Rikki Hedley and Bryce Adamson just over a minute behind. Hedley, securing seventh outright and third in Pro class, adding points to her class Championship title defence.

The attrition rate was high in the Performance 2WD class with two out of the six entries managing to clock up the full 22 laps. Leading the class and taking eighth outright in the number 510 machine was Murray and Julie Collins with Darrin Machell and Wayne Herring, in their first drive of the number 555 International Scout, driving into second in class the 12th outright. The number 555 had to pit to change a fouled spark plug, but persistence prevailed, he re-joined the race and clocked up a finish.

The number 247 Super 1650 of Mark Cowie and Brett Blackshaw raced into ninth outright and second in class after very consistent lap times. Len Barron in the number 137 ProLite rounded out the top ten with Christopher and Charles Camenzuli number 295 coming-in in 11th outright and third in Super 1650 class.

The hard luck stories began early with Malcolm and Leona Bird number 66 out on Lap two with rear suspension failure. Jarrad Eveleigh and Karen McRae got a few more laps under their belt but the front wheel parted company with the Sportsman number 322 on lap 6 ending their day of racing.

Joshua Howells had a seven minute pit stop on lap five with the number 305 Rivmasta needing water and replacing a missing radiator; the bad luck not ending there, a broken axle on the start line in the final heat the ultimate heart breaker.

Sunday’s spectacular award goes to number 502 Chris Hardie and Ashley Weinert when, while passing the number 510 Collins team jeep in the ten lap race, the number 502 went too hard into the first corner in the arena in full view of the spectators, hit a bank and flung the Performance 2WD into a tree, stopping and facing the wrong direction with a broken rear trailing arm.

12 of the 29 entries saluted the checkered flag after 22 laps of the 7.7km course.

The Crookwell off road club would like to thank the many local business houses and volunteers that made the event possible and remind off road followers that the next race to be held in Crookwell will be The Ray Vestey Memorial Christmas Cup on Sunday December 2 for more details log onto crookwell.offroadracing.com.au

Article and photo courtesy of julie@offroadracing.com.au