Robinson secures title at Loveday 400

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 31 July 2023

Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto have been crowned as 2023 Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship champions at the Loveday 400 won by Shannon and Ian Rentsch.

With many finding trouble across a dramatic weekend of action, a fourth place finish was enough for Robinson and Pinto to build an unassailable lead in the standings with one round still to go.

Fellow title rivals Mel and Liam Brandle finished just short in sixth, while reigning SXS champions James Cook and Mitch Aucote limped home outside the top 10.

The Brandle pair needed a top five result to keep things alive, but fell 55s short of Alan Dixon and Zachary O’Bree which decided the title.

Robinson was emotional to secure the crowd after a “testing year” on and off the track.

“It feels good – all the years and lessons from the old man (Brian Robinson) have finally paid off,” Robinson said.

“It’s been a testing year, but we’ve got it all together and yeah, it’s amazing to have won the title.

“We have had lots of curveballs thrown at us this season, but we’ve just kept it together and it’s been a very hectic year, but we have come together as a team.

“No doubt, the old man was watching over us.”

The fight for the Loveday 400 title was all one way traffic.

Rentsch led from start to finish and opened a substantial four-minute lead on Saturday.

He then picked up from where he left off on Sunday to further enhance his position to push the lead up to six minutes by the time the conclusion arrived.

But the battle for second was anything but one sided as Tom Owen and Damon Bennett endured an arm wrestle with Roydn Bailey and Dean Ellbourn.

The two crews were neck and neck throughout the weekend and it all came down to the final section.

Bailey held just a three-second lead over Owen, but a brilliant final two laps changed everything.

After the flying finish Owen overturned the deficit to snatch second by over a minute.

However, no one was coming close to Rentsch, who enjoyed a drought breaking success having not won since 2019.

“It’s been a good week and it’s been a long time between drinks, as we haven’t won for a while, so it’s good to be out the front again,” Rentsch said.

“It’s a bit of relief to win – I have a bit more confidence back now.

“We built this new car a couple of years ago now, but it’s been a bit of a challenge getting to where we like – we’re starting to get on top of it now and getting some results.

“I had a bit of a moment late in the race, where I lost a fair bit of time, but other than that, we had a pretty clean run all week and no mechanical trouble really, which is good.”

The final round of the season will be the Kalgoorlie Desert Race on 19-22 October.

Main image by Tony Donoghue Photography

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