New Zealanders Raana Horan and Mike Connor have raced to their first off-road racing win in Australia, taking out the Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash.

In what was an eventful day for crews and spectators, the New Zealanders maintained strong and consistent speed as they beat West Australians Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto by just over a minute.

The two front runners were in a league of their own, finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of the next best ranked crew.
Rounding out the podium for the first time in their Polaris Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) career was Mel Brandle and Nick Price, who edged out Daniel and Charlotte Hughes by less than a minute.

In an event dominated by Pro Buggies, six of the top seven cars belonged to the class with South Australian Brandle and his Alumicraft Pro Lite splitting the Pro Buggies.

Finishing behind Brandle and the Hughes in fifth was the second New Zealand crew of John and Dave Morgan.

Australian pair Ryan Taylor and Kye Floyd took the lead on the second day but were sidelined with mechanical problems and eventually finished outside the top 20.

It was a heartbreaking, yet symbolic of the whole weekend, way to finish for the two stars of the AORC as they had both been the standout performers on Saturday.

As the for the winners, it was a deserving result as the Kiwis were highly consistent across the whole weekend after qualifying fourth in Prologue and moving up to third by the end of Section One.

Once they took the lead they never looked back, as they finished off with some strong laps to stay ahead of Robinson.
“It’s the first time winning and it’s been a long time in the making,” Horan said.

“I’ve been coming to Australia for 12 years and coming over here trying to win something. I’ve had a couple of thirds, but first is my best so I’m happy.

“I didn’t think I’d won it until the end because we had a bit of a problem at the start. But when we were coming off lap three, I thought we’re in a really good spot because the guys in front of me had gone out. So I just had to do a clean lap, which I did.

“We’re into coming to these races but more into having the experience of travelling across Australia and doing races. We’re actually looking to do some other races in Kalgoorlie and other places, somewhere we can camp and take the kids and have a good time while