CONSISTENT CHANDLER TAKES OUT KEMPSEY 300

Experienced off road campaigner

David Chandler found his way back on the winners’ list last month after powering his way to a thrilling Kempsey 300 victory.

A 49-strong field made the trip 20km west of Kempsey, NSW to Wittitrin where crews tackled 300 competitive kilometres for the second round of the Motorsport Australia New South Wales Off Road Championship.

And after four hours, the result went right down to the wire as Chandler took victory by just four minutes over Dean Meginley despite not winning any of the three sections.

Chandler was highly consistent throughout the three-section race but it was his second run that proved the difference as he went almost four minutes faster than Meginley, who despite winning the final section, couldn’t reduce the deficit enough to knock the winner off.

Up until that final section though, it was Mat Huxley who was dominating the field with two convincing section wins before being forced to pull over in the final section to fix a broken pulley/power steering belt.

Although he was able to get back on track again, the 15 minutes he lost trying to repair the car saw him lose the event as he finished seven minutes off the winning Chandler and three minutes off Meginley.

Coming in fourth was Derek Rose, four seconds ahead of Lachlan Campbell who rounded out the top five.

Putting in an impressive performance throughout the weekend was Michael Spokes, highlighted by an incredible nosedive overtaking move in prologue before going on to win the top 10 shootout ahead of Meginley and Huxley.

The 42-year-old was on track for a good result after going fastest in the opening race, before having to withdraw due to an issue with his co-driver in the second run.

Despite falling just short in the outright standings, Meginley took top honours in the Sportslite class ahead of Rory Wills.

Campbell was able to hold his head high after edging Paul Herviou to SXS Turbo class honours, while Nathan Wills was dominant in the Extreme 4WD class.

Other class winners include Mark Sankey in the pro lite class, David Towers in Extreme 2WD, Desmond Woods in the 13-strong Super 1650 class, Kevin Cant proved he can in the in the SXS Sport while Riley Wilson and Ethan Harris took honours in Sportsman and Production 4WD respectively.

Full results can be viewed on speedhive.mylaps.com