After a thrilling opening round in March, the Kincrome SXS Motorsport Australia Championship resumes this weekend with some of the famous Alice Springs dirt roads to play host to the second round of the season.
This weekend, Crocker is unable to attend the round, leaving the championship wide open for competitors to continue building the foundations for a solid crack at the title – one of which is Queenslander Stephen Henry.
One of the championship’s longest serving competitors, Henry has come close to a maiden title on many occasions since joining in 2017 but has fallen short every time. Finishing second behind Crocker at Rainbow marks his best career start to a season.
And now with Crocker out, it gives him the best chance for his first victory since round two of the 2018 season.
Of course there are other notable names on the entry list who are likely to contend for round honours including 2018 champion Simon Evans and 2019 champion Jackson Evans, both of whom didn’t have the greatest of starts to the season, as well as Trevor Finck, who finished third in Rainbow behind Henry and Crocker.
It was a brilliant effort from the 31-year-old Victorian with Rainbow having been not just his Kincrome SXS Motorsport Australia Championship debut, but one of the first times he ran in a national off road championship.
Having topped the timesheets in Prologue and finished on the podium, it was a memorable debut for Finke, who is hoping for more improvement behind the wheel this weekend.
“Rainbow was really good. I am pretty new to the sport, so to Prologue first and then get third outright - I definitely can’t complain” Finck said.
“It (his debut) was everything I thought it would be. I grew up around off road, but never had the time or budget to compete, so this is a good avenue to get my off road career started and a foot in the door.
“I’m very excited for this weekend and I am hopeful of building on my strong start. Obviously my aim will be for a good result, but also to keep the car in one piece. I’ve never been to Alice Springs, so really looking forward to going there and doing some extra sightseeing.
“We didn’t come away completely unharmed for the first round - I had a few broken hubs and we were chasing some parts, but we managed to get it fixed in time.
“It was pretty busy as we were working on the car until this week, so a big thanks to Simon Evans, who has been amazing in helping us.”
Official proceedings for the event get underway on Friday with scrutineering at the Sporties Bar & Bistro in Todd Mall, giving locals a chance to see the cars up close, before the action gets underway on Saturday.
With prologue starting from 9:30am ACST, competitors will then be split into two groups and will each get two runs at the 100km course, before presentations wrap up the event at 3:30pm. Fans can attend the event all day for free.
The Kincrome SXS Motorsport Australia Championship takes place in Alice Springs on 16-17 April.