| www.motorsport.co.za | 09 February 2010 |
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Brandon Harcus and his Australian co-driver Darian Smith, driving a South African-designed and built BAT Spec 3-Chev conceived by Harcus, finished fourth overall in the Kickstarters Gascoyne Dash, a 500-km two-day race across some of the harshest and remotest country in Western Australia that finished on Sunday.Harcus, one of South Africa’s top off road car racers who hails from Dainfern in Johannesburg, was the only non-Australian competing in the extreme event and impressed the locals with his performance in his first attempt at the Gash Dash, which attracted a field of 128 motorcycles and 35 cars. Eighteen cars and 89 bikes finished. “This race was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my racing career,” said Harcus. “It’s a crazy adventure, very fast and very frightening – up to 225 km/h across the salt pans and over 180 km/h at times in a one kilometre-wide dry river bed with blind drop-offs of two to three metres. We had no problems at all with our BAT, which has attracted a lot of interest in Australia. “The Australians showed me the most generous hospitality and overall it was an unforgettable experience.” Harcus and Smith crossed the finish line at the oasis town of Carnarvon on the west coast, 1 000 km north of Perth, in a time of 5 hours 20 minutes and 45 seconds, 25 min 9 sec min behind the winning Jimco-Chev of Travis Robinson and Paul Currie of Western Australia. Robinson’s father, Brian, winner of the event for the past three years, and Trent Gilbertson were second in a Porter PR1-Chev, 2 min 6 sec in arrears. Third was the Jimco-Chev of Wally Francombe, Robert Hawker and Keen Verhoogt. The top five finishers were all competing in the Pro Buggy class. The event started on Friday with a 10-km prologue on a cattle station that didn’t count towards the result as it does in South Africa, but provided Harcus with an opportunity to get the feel of the unfamiliar terrain. He finished sixth, one place behind his Australian team-mates Brad Cooper and Mal Yeardley, who were driving a South African-designed and built Pinjarra Engineering BAT Spec 4-Chev in its first appearance in Australia. Day one consisted of a 187-km loop which Harcus completed in fourth place overall. Day two covered a distance of some 324 km that included 120 km of fast station tracks and 140 km in a dry river bed. Cooper (three times Western Australia state champion) and Yeardley, who have been campaigning the Spec 3 BAT in the Australian off road championship, were heading for a fourth or fifth place when they ground to a halt just four kilometres from the finish with a flat battery caused by alternator problems that plagued them throughout the event. They walked to the finish at Carnarvon to collect a battery jump pack, walked back to the stranded BAT, connected the battery pack and completed the event in 14th place overall and sixth in the Pro Buggy class. Issued on behalf of Brandon Harcus by Peter Burroughes Communications, telephone 082 899 0101, e-mail bowtie@iafrica.com. |
