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David Fellows and Mark Bergamin have come out swinging this morning during the prologue for the Tatts Finke Desert Race. The six-time “King of the Desert” drove the #92 Rhodes Racing twin turbo V6 Jimco on to pole position for tomorrow’s first leg of the race from Alice Springs to Finke, with a time of 5min 9sec. His Rhodes Racing Team mates, Jack Rhodes and David Pullino let the red dirt fly on their way to second place in the #91 Jimco, just three seconds short of Fellows. The V8 power propelled #8 Truebuild Jimco of Alice Springs locals, Danny Auricht and Grant Connelly nailed down third on the grid in the same time as Rhodes, 5min 12sec. After finishing third outright in 2012, Beau Robinson and Ken Skinner made a good start to their 2013 campaign, putting the #413 OBR Geiser Truck into fourth on the grid and first in the Extreme 2WD Class. Victors at the first round of the AORC, Shannon and Ian Rentsch powered their SR Racing Jimco into fifth, ahead of reigning Australian Off Road Champions, Matt Hanson and Leigh Wells in sixth, while the #21 MBR Jimco of Mark Burrows and Colin Hodge locked in seventh. Reigning 2012 King of the Desert, Brad Gallard with wife Kristin alongside, were hampered with an engine miss during the prologue which saw them cross finish line running on 6 cylinders in the V8 powered #454 Toyo Tires Geiser Truck. The team are now rectifying the problem and will start the main event tomorrow morning in eighth. Last year’s runners up, Matt Coleman and Shawn Teagle will start the #55 Alpha in ninth, ahead of the #23 Peter Kittle Motorsports Jimco piloted by Matthew Kittle and Cameron Kahl.

The main race starts tomorrow morning at 7:30am, with the first car expected to arrive at Finke before 9:30am.

Author: Randall Kilner
Source: Randall Graphics (PR Division) Pty Ltd
Photographer: Randall Kilner