Mick Magher Motorsports good form continued at the final round of the 2018 BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship, the Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro with Mick Magher and Daniel Hose piloting the #482 Narva Racing TSCO Trophy Truck to fifth outright and third in the Extreme 2WD Class.
Held on the fringe of the Big Desert in North West Victoria, the 72km course delivered a smile to Mick Magher's face when he returned from Friday's track reconnaissance. As the weekend unfolded his initial thoughts of "the track has a bit of everything" could not have been truer, with mother nature adding some wild card weather into the mix.
After Friday night's popular street display in Rainbow, the racing action kicked off on Saturday morning with the prologue to determine the starting order. Settling in to groove, Magher crossed the finishline in style, launching the #482 Narva Racing TSCO Trophy Truck high to check in to 13th on the grid with a time of 5min 41 seconds.
The first two laps on Saturday afternoon revealed some new challenges, with the heavens opening and creating an ice skating rink on the edge of the desert. While traction was at a premium it didn't stop the team from testing the limits of the big Fox shocks on the TSCO truck, with some spectacular leaps off the huge dunes at the back of the course. Leaving some panels in their wake, Magher cracked into the top ten with a time of 1hr 45min 26sec to set up an exciting second day of racing on Sunday.
Overnight, the heavy showers departed and the track started to dry out as the final five laps counted down. A smashed rim after side wiping a strainer post was the only casualty of the day as the Fox shocks and 40" BFGoodrich Tyres made light work of the Rainbow track as it started to chop up.
"It was tougher than Finke and the truck loved it. The whoops through the sandy desert sections had real square edges, so you had to push hard to get on top of them. While the corners really bermed up, but the truck went around them like it was on rails. Rainbow was a real endurance race and we can't wait to get back next year," commented Mick Magher.
Magher greeted the chequered flag in an overall time of 5 hours 50min 19seconds, rewarding the team with fifth outright and third in the Extreme 2wd class for their second consecutive event in the new vehicle.
"We're really happy with the result as it's been a big learning curve but we're not far off the pace. The more time I spend in the truck the more I learn what it is actually capable of so bring on the next race," said Mick at the finish line.
Returning to Geelong, Mick Magher Motorsport's attention was switched from go to show. With the #482 Narva Racing TSCO Trophy Truck taking pride of place on the Narva Australia stand at the National 4x4 Show in Melbourne, August 17-19. "It has been a big couple of days in the shed turning the truck around after Rainbow, but we couldn't wait to pull the covers off the beast at the Melbourne Showgrounds and introduce off road racing to a new audience. It was a real drawcard over the weekend on the Narva stand with crowds checking out the truck grabbing one of our new posters."
Follow the team's progress in the BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship via the Mick Magher Motorsport facebook and instagram pages.
Mick Magher and Daniel Hose thank Narva, BFGoodrich Tires, TSCO, Albins, SDG Shock Development Group and Dirtcomp Magazine for their support in 2018.
28 August 2018
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