Bathurst resident and financial Planner Andrew Travis and his Father David, a dentist in Bathurst have overcome mechanical problems to come home first on provisional results in the Classic Outback Trial in the Northern Territory for an unprecedented third time.
Starting the sixth and final day of the rally, the pair held a comfortable 20 minute advantage over another N.S.W. crew, Andy Crane and David Anderson in a Peugeot 504. On the previous day they were forced to slow when a seal in their driveline failed, threatening to end their event.
On the first 62 km stage this morning, Travis extended had the fastest time then appeared to back off a little fir the next 2 stages so as not to risk damaging the car. Fittingly though, the Bathurst crew won the final stage of the day to underline their dominance.
The battle for third place was between the N.T. crew of Kerr and Cole in a Datsun 1600, Dinta and Kate Officer, former Australian Rally Champions in a Mistubishi and Penny Swan and Tony Robinson in a Volvo.
The Officers challenge fell away when they drove into a big hole on the first stage and damaged their car. The Swan/Robinson almost ended spectacularly on the last stage when they rolled their Volvo, however they still managed a brilliant fourth place.
After arriving at the finish in Alice Springs, the winner Andrew Travis said that it was “A fine line between driving fast enough to stay in touch and still have a car left with enough to battle it out on the last day if you need to”.
The Travis’s have won the event twice before and are regular competitors in N.S.W. rallies, competing in the AMSAG series in the Cross Country Section. The event is a long distance special stage rally for classic rally cars that takes places mostly on cattle stations and private land holdings in the Northern Territory.
The event finished on Friday afternoon at Lasseters Entertainment Complex in Alice Springs.
The event charity partner is White Ribbon, a male led campaign to end violence against Women.
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