Smith crashes out of Australasian Safari

Smith made it through the opening stage en route from Coolgardie to Norseman, but then it all came unstuck, leaving him with a broken leg and shoulder injury after parting company from his CRF450X.

Smith was tended to at the scene by his sibling Todd, Ben Grabham and Rod Faggotter, while Mathew Fish pushed ahead to notify officials of the incident.

"Jacob wasn't in a good way when we got to him, and no-one would ride off and leave a mate out there without assistance,” said Faggotter. “All of us felt it was the right thing to do and no-one was trying to gain an advantage. The top four are nearly 30 minutes ahead of the fifth place rider and every rider we spoke with was happy with our decision.”

Jacob is now the third top rider to end up in Kalgoorlie Hospital this year, following on from Honda’s AJ Roberts (broken wrist) and West Aussie KTM rider Ivan Erceg, who really put himself through the wringer: nine broken ribs, a broken collarbone and punctured lung. Miraculously, he still wants to make it to the event after-party this Saturday night …

After four of seven legs, Grabham (KTM 530EXC) has now extended his moto lead to nearly nine minutes, and it would be a brave person to now bet against him making it three wins out of the last four years.

Faggotter (Yamaha WR450F), Todd Smith (530EXC), Fish (530EXC) and David Schwarz (Husaberg FE570) all gained a position during leg four, with the demise of Jacob Smith helping their cause.

Schwarz is too far back to mount a serious challenge for victory, so the 2010 Safari champion will definitely come out of the top four riders.

The top international competitor is Sweden’s Annie Seel (FE57) in 16th out of 40 remaining riders.

All the moto classifications are still provisional though, as results for leg 10 are under review by the event organisers.

That means for the start order for today’s 463.9km leg five was based on the classifications at the end of stage nine.

Meanwhile, with his clutch problems during the ‘marathon’ legs (two and three) all sorted, Craig Lowndes (Holden Colorado) really turned the screws in leg four, winning all three stages to move out to a 19-minute lead with navigator Kees Weel.

“The Colorado was really suited by the stages yesterday, so it was a big day for us” said Lowndes. “It was hard work though, because there were three really long stages and we didn’t get back into service until sundown.
 
“Long days make it hard on all of us. By the time the crew got started on the car it was already dark and they didn’t finish work until well past midnight.But that is all just part of the Safari!"

Second place is being held by Darren Green/Wayne Smith (Nissan Patrol), who in turn enjoy a comfortable 16-minute cushion over Bruce Garland/Harry Suzuki (Isuzu D-MAX).

Warren Denham and Michael Denham are fourth, ahead of the father and son team Des and Richard Harrington (Patrol). The Denhams limped back into Safari headquarters last night after sustaining front end damage on their Mitsubishi Triton.

Four of the 18 teams which stated leg four failed to complete the distance and final stage.

Day five update: Grabham still leads, now by 10 minutes, and Todd Smith has displaced Faggotter to move into second. West Aussie Warren Strange (CRF450X) was choppered off the course this morning, but he is now back at Safari headquarters and feeling okay.

Check out the official Australasian Safari site for more information on the event.