Yamaha dealer Rod Faggotter won his second Condo 750 in a row over the weekend. Image: Max Sullivan.

Centretune Motorcycles owner and off road ace Rod Faggotter has claimed victory for the second year running at the prestigious 2011 Condobolin 750 off road endurance event held over the Easter weekend.

Faggotter, a Yamaha dealer from Longreach in Queensland and onboard the bullet proof Yamaha WR450F, overcame a slow start to the event to power home strongly and take the outright victory by five minutes from Damien Grabham and Matt Fish.

His weekend started poorly as the Friday prologue run saw Rod finish in 28th place and therefore leaving the Parc Ferme as 28th on the road for the two day, 800 kilometre endurance event around north western New South Wales.

But by the end of day one, Faggotter had powered his WR450F straight into the lead and a comfortable cushion of just under six minutes back to his nearest rival.

With the hard yards done on day one, Sunday saw Faggotter lead the field away and he rode smartly and consistently to maintain his lead and take a comprehensive victory for the second year in a row.

“Things weren’t looking too flash during the prologue on Friday. I wasn’t riding that well and to come in 28th means there is plenty of traffic ahead of me, but the positive was that there was just over a minute separating the fastest 30 riders,” he explained.

“On Saturday I got stuck into it and wanted to climb up the field as much as possible to give myself and chance at winning the event. I never expected to finish the day as the leader and with such a handy break over second place.

“With a five minute gap, there was no point in pushing it, so I rode to a pace that was safe and maintained my position. I didn’t ride that well on Sunday, but fortunately I didn’t have to and I was lucky enough to hold my position and win the Condo 750 for the second time.”

Rod also took the time to sing the praises of his team and the Yamaha WR450.

“This is a tough event to win and the right combination of performance, durability and knowledge is essential for a good result,” he added.

“In the Yamaha WR450F, I know I have the machinery to do it, with the help of Yamaha and our team sponsors, I know we have the support to do it and the guys in my team do a great job of making everything sail smoothly.

“Again this year, we won with little more than an air and oil filter change and just some basic endurance event based modification to the WR. I can’t thank everyone involved enough and hope the results continue for 2011.”

The 2011 Condo 750 was Rod’s first event back from a serious wrist injury sustained at the 2010 Australian Safari.

This years’ event will work as the perfect lead in as Faggotter now shifts his attention to the Finke Desert race in five weeks time before moving onto a grueling two day event in Hattah and then the 2011 Australian Safari.