MOTORSPORT: Australasian Safari Leg Four

Safari veteran Steve Riley and co-driver John Doble (NSW) retain their lead after Leg four of the Australasian Safari. But the pairing have serious competition nipping at the heels of their Commodore off-road special in the shape of the Toyota Tacoma trophy truck crew of Dave McShane and Bill Hayes (WA).

Leg Four's 352km of special stages from Gascoyne Junction to Exmouth was described as 'exhausting' by many of the Safari's competitors. Rocky mill tracks in the first stage had vehicles burning through tyres, and the overgrown bush and rough terrain on the second stage was gruelling.

McShane and Hayes had a relatively trouble-free run to have the gap to Riley and Doble on total time, leapfrogging Greg Scanlon and co-driver Liam Nunns (NSW) in the ARB Bendigo Nissan Patrol in the process. The Toyota Tacoma crew is now just seven minutes behind the leaders.

Current leaders Riley and Doble's day was plagued by tyre problems.

"We got three or four flat tyres today, and we're lucky to get in tonight. I'm out of tyres, and need to find some more to be able to start tomorrow. I'm going to go round the service park and beg, borrow or steal some more," he Riley.

"Very long day and I'm knackered. The car is holding up, it's me. I'm doing it pretty hard to be honest," had added.

Third-placed Greg Scanlon said he took it easy during Leg Four and is happy with his progress, despite relinquishing second place.

"The car is going well. We had one flat tyre today, but it didn’t hold us up. We're driving a little conservative, but it's working," said Scanlon.

"There was lots of scrub today. You get used to the bash, bash, bash on the sides of the car. Tomorrow should be a good one, touch wood. Although, I've touched enough wood on course today," he laughed.

Over in the Safari Challenge category motoring.com.au's Matt Brogan and co-drive Julia Barkley have snatched the lead from Matt Raudonikis and Ian Wheeler, rival journalists from 4x4 Magazine, after the latter's Jeep ran into problems and went into limp mode.

Raudonikis was philosophical about the situation: "It's nice to have the day off".

Brogan meanwhile didn't finish the day's pair of competitive stages completely unscathed. "It's been tough. We flicked up a stick which knocked out one of the wheel speed sensors, so we had the throttle cut to about half way for most of the course," he said, which them the Jeep Wrangler back somewhat.