Current West Australian Rally Championship points leader John O’Dowd has decided to forego the opportunity to compete at the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship event in Canberra, instead setting his focus firmly on the WARC title at the MRF Tyres Boddington Safari.
Subaru driver O’Dowd claimed victory at the opening Karri Rally, and was second at the Forest Rally. That puts him at the top of the WARC points on 176 with his closest rival Steven Oxley 30 points behind.
“Although competing in Canberra against the ARC and APRC crews would have been fantastic, the date clash with Boddington meant I had to make a choice”, commented O’Dowd. “This year has been fantastic in the state series, and I’d love to add a WARC title to the trophy cabinet!”
“So the decision to miss Canberra was a pretty easy one to make. I just have to make sure I bank the maximum possible points at Boddington. Steven Oxley has been really strong competition this year.”
After contesting the last two rounds of the series with Tom Wilde in the co-drivers seat, Toni Feaver will partner with O’Dowd for Boddington.
“Unfortunately Tom is in the US at the moment. But luckily Toni was available, so I’m in pretty good hands. Toni has years of top-level rallying experience behind her and she has been part of the Maximum Motorsport family for the last couple of years. So I couldn’t have a better co-driver.”
The MRF Tyres Boddington Safari starts on Sunday June 3, is based south-east of Mandura and includes eight forest competitive stages covering almost 300 kms.
John O’Dowd is supported by Knightcorp Insurance, Pacific Finance, Rent WA, Truck Wholesale WA and Maximum Motorsport.
