Glenn Owen and Deon Beattie (30) take out first place honours in an action packed prologue at the MTQ Engine Systems Griffith 700 in 13:34.65. Owen and Beattie crossed the line in their Nissan VQ35 powered Jimco only hundredth of a second in front of the 2010 outrights points leaders David Fellows and Mark Bergamin (2) in 13:34.83. Owen is in line for a hat trick of Griffith wins having taken victory in 2004 and 2005 events. The Griffith Off Road Club have had five years absence from the Australian Off Road Championship, so if Owen wins the 700km race tomorrow he will secure the illustrious hat trick.

The internet connection at the main speedway venue of the MTQ Engine Systems Griffith 700 is not stable and has lead to the technical difficulties today. Unfortunately the broadcast of the Track PA today has been intermittent and we were unable to secure the volunteers to do the typed commentary.

Due to the internet access difficulties experienced today, there will be no LIVE Track PA for Sunday’s race. We have sourced the necessary volunteers to provide a limited typed commentary service. The results will be LIVE and instant as usual.

Third place in the MTQ Engine Systems Griffith 700 prologue and winner of the Performance Metals Longest Jump Activity was current Australian Off Road Champions Shannon and Ian Rentsch (1) in the second outing of their new 2010 series Jimco in a time of 13:42.00. Rentsch’s jumped the Jimco an average of 35metres to take out the $1000 prize money put up by Performance Metals.

Fourth and the first of the Outerbounds Racing trilogy of pro buggies was Beau Robinson and Adam Trewhella (85) in the OBR Jimco in a time of 13:47.08 followed by the Unicap entry of Brad Prout (9) in 13:53.39. Fifth to cross the line was the Edmonds Engineering Albins MBR Jimco of Mark Burrows and Colin Hodge (21) in 13:53.39. The name Burrows has become legendary with the Griffith event, after having a spectacular roll into an irrigation drain back in 2005. The spot on the 2010 race track has been honoured with a location marker of Burrows Blunder.

Danny Auricht and Grant Connelly (8) from Alice Springs is making the most of his return to the sport and continuing on his good form from the Tattersall’s Finke Desert Race where he came in third outright after the 450km two day race. Auricht time of 14:03.85 places him seconds in front of Terry Rose and Shane Eagan (11) who marked their time at 14:14.27, only seconds in front of the Warrnambool Pre Cast Alpha buggy of Matthew Coleman and Shawn Teagle (55) who stopped the clock in 14:15.69.

Rounding out the top 10 was the second of the Outerbounds Racing cars of Brian Robinson and Andy Brown (84) in 14:22.46. Unfortunately for the Outerbounds Racing team, the third car of their pack, the Jimco of Travis Robinson and Paul Currie (3), had a gentle roll over on the inside arena on the third corner, much to the delight of the thousands of onlookers who had gathered to watch today’s happenings.

As stated before, it was an action packed prologue with 18 of the 80 entries failing to finish the 20km track. A prologue attrition rate unheard of in recent years.

A quick summary of the DNFs (did not finish) goes something like this:

Les Siviour and Katie Rentsch (712) – Hit tree
Colin Hunter and Simon Campbell (801) – Crank shaft pully fell off
Gerald and Joanna Reid (209) – Blown engine
Derek Rose and Michael Densley (279) – Engine issues
David and Alice Middlemiss (277) - Electrical
Mark Snow and Nick Sanders (257) – No power
John Hederics and Colin Harrington (497) – Gentle roll over
Paul and Mark-Paul Grant (405) – Suspect fuel tuning issues
Dean and Brad Miller (408) – Power steering
Anthony Fehlhaber and Gary Howell (138) – Roll over
Matthew Martin and Mathew Martin (121) – Hit gate
Justin and Melissa Watt (101) – Stopped for accident on track
Andy Ryan and Glenn Collils (113) – Hit tree
Travis Robinson and Paul Currie (3) – Gentle roll over
Jason Corless and Paul Ward (5) – Roll over
Brendan Hall and Shane Cheeseman (62) – Silent Mechanical Failure
Jason Corless and Paul Ward (15) – Roll over
Werner Zettl and (201) – Did not start prologue due to electrical issues
Jeff and Jai Loader (513) – Did not start prologue doe to rock hit radiator

Story will be updated with photos and more news shortly.