Yes it was close at the end, i am sure Hayden was very nervous throughout Sunday and he seemed pretty relieved afterwards. He is a very deserving champion as he was very consistent, never finishing off the podium all year except for the Gundy DNF and included in that was the Finke Desert race victory. Congratulations also to his navigator Ben Chivell who is the 2007 AORC Champion Navigator.
The other Championship of course that is recognised by CAMS is the AORC Classes Champion. Now this has to be officially calculated out yet, but i am thinking that there could be quite a few different competitors in the running for this. The results from the last round have the 1.5 multiplication applied and with some having DNFs, it could be wide open amongst Hayden, Brad Prout, Peter Kozak, Greg Campbell, Geoff Pickering and Colin Hunter.
Having now seen the official results from Gundy and doing my sums, it appears that Geoff Pickering has once again won the AORC Classes Championship and will join Hayden Bentley at the CAMS Motorsport Awards Dinner later in the year, when all the Australian motorsport champions are recognised. This has to be officially confirmed of course, but i am pretty certain about the result. Well done Geoff.
We should also acknowledge the individual class winners in the 2007 AORC.
Hayden Bentley of course in Pro Buggy, Justin Watt in Pro-Lite, Danial Brown in Super 1650, Sam Barnes in Sportsman, Greg Campbell in Extreme 2WD, Peter Kozak in Performance 2WD, Geoff Pickering in Production 4WD and Colin Hunter in Extreme 4WD.
I don't think Shannon has any problems to sort out... the overheating problem had at Mildura was apparently a head gasket failure. Seemed to go pretty well at the Pines and Goondiwindi rounds.....
I am sure he will be back up the front challenging for the title again next year, as will a number of other drivers... Hayden Bentley drove exceptionally well this year and deserved the title, Brad Prout preformed well, Mark Burrows was quick and will again be a force, Buddy Crowe... the list goes on, could be any one of probably 7 or 8 guys who if they put a full season of consistent results together could come out on top.
