Safari leg two: Top guns break shackles

Unencumbered by tight and slippery conditions, the pace in the 2011 Australian Safari hotted up on day two, as riders and drivers headed further inland from Mount Magnet to Sandstone in 326km of competitive stages.

In the moto class, siblings Todd and Jacob Smith (both Honda CRF450X) are still running 1-2, two minutes and 40 seconds apart, but with defending champion Ben Grabham (KTM 450SXF) starting to show some ominous form in third position.

“Jacob caught me and we raced each other most of the way, and we also worked together to open and close gates,” said Todd. “The stages were flowing nicely -- it was fun.”

Grabham was the most consistent of the Safari top brass today, only bested by Jacob Smith in the 196.96km stage three before winning the fourth – a 129.75km 'sprint' – ahead of Todd Smith and Shane Diener (Yamaha WR450F)

Diener, a multiple winner of the famed South Australian 24-hour reliability trial, was today’s biggest mover, leapfrogging up three spots to move into fourth overall, and is now followed by Matthew Fish (KTM 505SXF),
Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM 450RR), Rod Faggotter (WR450F) and Damien Grabham (Husaberg FE570).

“It was fun today. I was a bit faster, although I was expecting it to be like yesterday. There was some sliding – it was quite fun. Some parts were really fast,” said Despres “I’m still having difficultly with the course notes, it is very different to what I am used to and I’m not sure I can learn it in a week. I saw some big animals today, including a 1.5-metre lizard!”

Craig Lowndes and John Panozzo are flying the flag for the PWR Holden team, remaining ahead of the auto class in their Holden Colorado, 13 minutes ahead of Steve Riley and John Doble (Mitsubishi Pajero).

“Today was good, the stages were much better than yesterday. There were a lot of fast sections, and it was a lot less slippery than yesterday, so a lot more enjoyable. We even saw a family of emus,” Lowndes said.

And after yesterday’s epic brake failure, leg two was a comparatively calm one for Riley, a former motorcycle top gun and the two-time auto winner in 2008-2009.

“There were lots of fast bits, and some pretty rough and broken country. We caught up to Craig -- he was lost, and we were lost, and a few other cars joined us, driving around in circles playing follow the leader,” said Riley.
“The scenery was nice with some big rocky gorges and acres of wildflowers.

“We went through some really overgrown areas and the windows got covered in sap and John (Doble) was busy scrubbing it off.”

Terry ‘Tangles’ Conner and daughter Jodi Conner (Nissan) remain in third position, with only 11 cars still in action from the original 15.

Geoff Olholm in fourth fastest position said they had a great day.

Colin Lawson (Can-Am Renegade) remains in control of the quad class, despite torturing his rear wheel rim.

Leg three (September 26) will see competitors travel to Laverton, with stage six the longest of this year’s Safari – an energy-sapping 317.94km.