Australian Safari: stage seven cancelled

Stage seven of the 2010 Australasian Safari was cancelled this afternoon after moto rider Ivan Erceg crashed heavily and was helicoptered to hospital.

That meant the chopper wasn’t on standby for the start of stage seven, as per event regulations. Organisers had no choice but to cancel the stage, with competitors then making their way into the former boom mining town of Coolgardie, 35km west of Kalgoorlie, as part of an untimed, mass convoy.

The amiable Erceg, who was fourth in last year’s Safari, suffered chest and rib injuries in the crash, and he’s now in Royal Perth Hospital in a stable condition. No further details are available.

Erceg crashed around the 220km mark of the 244km stage, but miraculously dusted himself off and continued riding his KTM 530EXC for another 10km before the pain became too much.

Today’s two competitive stages (six and seven) were to take riders on a 565.57km trek from Leonora to Coolgardie.

That obviously didn’t play out in full, but the 244.49km stage six did throw up a few surprises.

In the auto division, the father and son team of Des and Richard Harrington continued its red-hot form, winning in a canter from fellow Nissan Patrol pairings of Kerry Turley/Naomi Tillett and Reg Owen/Russell Cairns.

“We had a clean run all the way through,” said Des Harrington, the wise owl of the Safari. “No problems yesterday and the same today. It’s a long race and if you try to win in the first two or three days you are kidding yourself.

When asked how this year’s event compared to last year, Des said: “The stages are the stages, they might be more or less difficult but we are all racing on the same tracks, and we are all getting from A to B in the same way.  That’s what the competition is about.”

The Harringtons have also moved then into the Safari lead at the expense of siblings Warren and Michael Denham (Mitsubishi Triton), who were only 11th today after losing their rear brakes 30km into the stage, with the misery compounded by a puncture and a bent steering arm.

Craig Lowndes and Kees Weel (Holden Colorado) were marginally better off in ninth position, but will be – like the entire Safari field — looking forward to a major overhaul of their vehicles during tonight’s overnight stop.

That’s because last night’s lay period in Leonora only allowed limited servicing of vehicles, so there are bound to be lots of clutches, tyres, suspension components, engines and drivelines feeling a little worse for wear after two days and 948km of extreme competition.

“We’ve obviously been able to do minimal maintenance on the car overnight so it’s a matter of getting through to the end of the day and letting the crew do their stuff tonight,” said Lowndes. “The Colorado is performing well, but we may end up sacrificing some time today just to make sure we reach tonight’s service with the car in one piece.

“As long as we stay in touch with the leaders today we’re confident that we have the equipment to chase them down in the following stages.

“I’m learning every day. Today was really just about getting to the end of the stage in one piece. The stage was a little more faster and flowing than the previous days, and there were quite a few runs along fence lines where we could use the V8 to good effect.”

The top five in auto are Bruce Garland/Harry Suzuki (Isuzu D-MAX) and Darren Green/Wayne Smith (Patrol).

In the moto class, defending champion Jacob Smith (Honda CRF450X) has bounced back into some menacing form, and he was boss cocky in stage six by well over a minute ahead of Ben Grabham (KTM 530EXC), with the top six completed by Mathew Fish (530EXC), Warren Strange (CRF450X), Rod Faggoter (Yamaha WR450F) and Todd Smith (530EXC).

Todd dropped from first to fourth today, in what was an eventful outing for the reigning Safari No. 2. Grabham has taken his position at the top of the standings.

“I got some wire over the back wheel, it locked up and I came off,” said Todd. “I got pinned under the bike and Fishy stopped to lift the bike off.  Then I hit a bike at low speed, coming into a lane.  Nothing serious though. 

“There was some canvas showing on one of the tyres at the start of the day, so I was thinking about that. I couldn’t really go about 140km/h. But there were no navigational errors, so that was good.”

Grabham, the two-time Safari champion, is well over five minutes in front of Jacob Smith, who’s being stalked by Faggotter and Todd Smith.

“I have managed to extend my lead, which I am rapt about,” said Grabham. “I rode consistently and didn’t have any big problems with the bike.”

Meanwhile, Faggotter's rotten luck continued again today, with wire again getting caught in both wheels of his bike just when he was on target to win the stage. The wire extraction cost him about five minutes all up.

Fish is fifth, after failing to appreciate he was missing a sizeable chunk of his engine.

“I punched a hole the size of a 50-cent piece in the engine and I didn’t even notice!” said the Victorian. “When I came to the refuel you could see the oil coming out and so I patched it with some liquid metal. I lost a bit of time doing that.”

Despite finishing third in quads today, Paul Smith (Honda TRX700XX) is 25 minutes in front of John Maragozidis (Interceptor 850) and Colin Lawson (Can-Am Renegade 800).

Eleven motorcycle riders are already out of the event, and 13 auto teams. Tomorrow's leg four will take competitors on a 559km odyssey to Norseman, with 471km of competitive stages.

Check out the official Australasian Safari site for more information on the event, and click on the following link to view the provisional results and current standings after stage six.