Smith versus Smith in leg one of Australasian Safari

Despite the conditions, Todd and Jacob Smith finished first and second fastest, keeping pace with each other despite the overgrown tracks, which they both said were treacherous. They were followed by Rod Faggotter, who finished on top in the first of the leg's two stages, but fell behind in the second. Ben Grabham recovered after a tumble over the handlebars in the first stage to finish fourth overall. Grabham said he was a bit sore, but a Panadol at the refuel kept him going.
"Something happened when I was in first gear going through the grass. I wasn't liking the conditions today, you couldn't see anything in the long grass," Grabham said.

Cyril Despres is sitting a respectable sixth fastest despite continuing difficulties with the language of the road books.
"This is quite a different race for me and reading the navigation is like a different language. I was not racing at 100 percent capacity today and it's also the first day."

Shane Diener finished seventh after coming off on a corner and getting lost a couple of times in the first stage.
"I sorted out my concentration by the second stage and am being a bit more cautious after breaking both my wrists earlier this year."

After a fall on the prologue, Sam Sunderland had another rough day in the Aussie outback, hitting a kangaroo and coming off his bike. He managed to get back on to reach the end of the stage but arrived disoriented and was seen by a medical team. Italian rider Manuel Lucchese had wheel damage 108km into the second stage.

In the quads, John Maragozidis was the quickest over the opening stage, but fell behind in the second to finish behind Colin Lawson and Adrian Hermsen. Mechanical gremlins ended Heath Young's day early, the WA rider towed through the rest of the day's stages by fellow West Australian, Neville Yeatman. Lawson leads the quad category from Hermsen after leg one