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 | Australia 2012: Showtime at Baroota Flinders 400 with $12,000 cash prize.
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The stage is set and the curtains are about to be raised on an "Australian Off Road Racing" classic, the "Exact Mining Bentley’s Cabin Park Flinders 400" on April 28 & 29. With an impressive $12,000 cash prize pool, teams have entered from far and wide to battle it out on the famous Baroota track, located 40km north of Port Pirie in South Australia.
Headlining the show will be the two car Element Racing team of Aaron and Carl Haby, who were first and second outright respectively in the 2011 SA Championship. Add into the mix the twin turbo V6 Proclass buggies of Andrew Kittle, Hayden Bentley, Jack Rhodes, the Monster Energy Trophy Truck of Brad Gallard and the high tech Dodge Dakota of Colin Hunter and an exciting weekend of offroad racing lies ahead.
Building on the foundations of the 2011 AORC round, the Baroota Off Road Association has once again pulled out all stops for the Flinders 400, not only to raise the profile of the sport, but make the second round of the 2012 SA Off Road Championship a fun and family friendly affair.
Over 300 TV adverts have been broadcast in regional SA in the month leading up to the event. Alongside print adverts, promotion through the local paper and a 6 metre billboard at McDonalds in Port Pirie.
While post event the exposure will continue for both the competitors and event partners with Simon Christie and the 4WDTV team making the trip over from Victoria to capture all the action on the track at the Exact Mining Bentley’s Cabin Park Flinders 400.
4WDTV will take offroad racing into the lounge rooms of its half a million regular viewers when it airs on Channel 44, Imparja and across the Tasman in New Zealand. Also keep your eye out on Channel 74 for an editorial on the sport during Simon Christies 4WDTV Protips.
The redesign of the Baroota complex in the lead up to the 2011 AORC round not only resulted in state of the art pit facilities for the competitors, but also one of the best spectator venues in the country.
The 65km course embraces the traditional berms and caverns for which the property is famous, and loops it’s way close to the pits on a number of occasions to provide plenty of entertainment for the spectators as the offroad racers launch over the jumps and suspension punishing whoops.
The Exact Mining Bentley’s Cabin Park Flinders 400 will commence with scrutineering on Friday between 4pm and 9pm at Baroota, before racing kicks off on Saturday with the Prologue at 10am.
As an added attraction the Performance Metals Longest Leap returns during the prologue. In 2011 Hayden Bentley took the honours with a 27 metre leap in his twin turbo V6 Racer, and with $1000 prize money up for grabs the drivers will once again keep the throttle pinned to the floor in order to fly the longest. The top ten drivers will then return to the track for the Neill Automotive Baroota Cup Shoot Out to determine the final starting order.
A Trophy Kart Parade will be held at the conclusion of the Top Ten Shoot Out to demonstrate category being developed for juniors to become involved with offroad racing.
Saturday afternoon will provide the first opportunity for the drivers to really stretch the legs of their offroad racing machinery, with two laps of the 65km course. Four more laps of Baroota will be the order of the day on Sunday, with the drivers unleashed on two further 130km sections.
Supported by Extreme Motorsport, Nyrstar, Neill Automotive, ARB and Performance Metals, the Exact Mining Bentleys Cabin Park Flinders 400 has been designed to be a family friendly event. Full catering and a licenced bar will be running all weekend, along with a free jumping castle for the kids and a big fireworks display on Saturday night. A helicopter will also be onsite for those wanting to catch an eagle eye view of the track.
To keep up to speed with results as the race unfolds visit [ FLINDERS 400 ]. Live streaming of the event commentary by the Wells Brothers will be available at [ LIVESTREAM ].
2012/04/20 | 18:47 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/HS/KILNER
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