The Pat McDonnell Earthmoving Don River Dash 2021, hosted by the Burdekin Offroaders INC was the seventh round of the 2021 Mickey Thompson ARB QLD Offroad Racing Championships, 10-12th September 2021.
Thank you to Pat McDonnell Earthmoving and the Burdekin Offroaders Inc. for sponsoring and organising such a great event.
The event started at the Bowen Showgrounds and ran along public roads towards the Don River. The track entered the river bed beneath a timing loop where the race coursed it's way along the dried out river bed for 50km.
Deep sand, long straights, high whoop sections, water crossings, jumps... this event has it all! The reverse grid meant there was alot of action and excitement on the track.
We experienced a slight issue during reconnaissance where after only 5km into the lap, the throttle cable failed. On inspection we found this was due to excessive heat in the engine compartment and a plug lead on fire. We brought the girl back to the pits and made some alterations to the side protection panels to allow better airflow. New plugs and leads and she was ready to race.
Betty was on great form for Saturday's race, finishing 2nd outright and 2nd in class. We couldn't be prouder of her.
After a night of vehicle maintenance in the pits, she was freshened up and ready to defend her position.
Sunday session started with Betty seeded second last on the starting grid, with only the Tropic Buggy #16 chasing her from behind.
She held herself together throughout the 160km course right to the very last minute.
Betty came through with an amazing outright third position and second in class! Congratulations to Talbot Cox for the outright win, followed by the Team at Patriot Racing.
Just after the finishing jump Betty's throttle cable jammed on, causing her to buck and rear and roll off the side of the next jump. Fortunately nobody was injured and medics and officials were quick to respond to assess the situation.
Betty unfortunately took quite a knock, damaging her front upper and lower A arms, few broken panels and leaky shocks but nothing critical.
Thank you to our awesome mechanics Lee Rodwell and Luke VanZutphen and pit support Joe Watson for all you do for our Team.
Thank you to all the race organisers at the Burdekin Offroaders INC for another cracker event! We absolutely love travelling to North Queensland for these awesome events and really appreciate all that you do.