Grabham leads after day one on Safari
Reigning motorbike champion, Ben Grabham, got his Australasian Safari title defence off to a great start, creating a buffer of almost three minutes over his nearest rival after Leg One of the 2008 event.
On a day that saw the field tackle nearly 300 kilometres in the Western Australian outback, on a loop of three stages from the gold mining city of Kalgoorlie, Grabham (Honda) established his lead on the opening test and was never headed.
Despite beating Grabham across the next two stages, second placed Shane Diener (Kawasaki) finished the day in second place, two minutes and 58 seconds from the lead.
In third place on the bikes was 2007 runner-up Jacob Smith, riding a Yamaha, but already the Condobolin rider is over 10 minutes off the pace.
AFL legend, Tony Lockett, finished the day in 39th place from a field of 51 starters, after a consistent day which saw him move up the leaderboard as the day progressed.
South African, Vicus Vandeventer, dominated the first day among Quad bike riders, setting a hot pace on his Yamaha Raptor.
While Grabham was delighted with his opening day, he knows that there are many challenges ahead as the course makes its way to Perth over the next six days.
“I didn’t do anything special, just rode around and tried to follow the maps. It’s pretty tough out there – I don’t know if people complained last year that the navigating was easy, because it’s ten times harder this year. There are a lot of spots were I think you could easily get lost,” Grabham said.
“I think maybe I got a little bit of a buffer in the first stage over the riders behind me, because I pretty much spent the day by myself.
While a long way from the lead, Lockett was happy to finish the first day of Australia’s toughest motorsport challenge.
“I had a good day. It was everything that I expected and probably a little bit more,” the ALF goal kicking record holder said.
“It was a tough day with a lot of dust early on in the morning. It took a little while to get the maps under control, but after that the second and third competitive stages were pretty good. The track was good, but every day will probably get a little bit harder and harder, but I’m ready to go tomorrow.”
RESULTS – LEG ONE
MOTO DIVISION
1. Ben Grabham (#1) Honda CRF450X, 3h41m31s
2. Shane Diener (#31) Kawasaki KLX, 3h44.29
3. Jacob Smith (#2) Yamaha WR 450 08, 3h52m30s
4. Rod Faggotter (#66) Yamaha WR 450 F, 3h53.32
5. John Wheeler (#15) KTM EXC, 3h57m52s
6. Damian Grabham (#4) Honda CRF450X, 3h57m54s
QUAD DIVISION
1. Vicus Vanderventer (#92) Yamaha Raptor, 4h01m22s
