race report
TOBY PRICE IS continually
smashing records when
it comes to two-wheel
achievement. This time, the
30-year-old nabbed the record
number of Finke Desert Race
wins... six to be exact.
On 11 June, Toby snatched
the crown from Northern
Territory legend Randall
Gregory who held the
previous record of five
victories, in what is widely
regarded as Australia’s
toughest desert race.
After missing last year’s
event due to injury, Price was
looking forward to not only
riding the Tatts Finke Desert
Race, but driving the Tatts
Finke Desert Race. He was
going to attempt the Ironman
Double for the second time
by driving his V8-Chev
powered trophy truck to
Finke, catching a ride in a
chopper back to Alice Springs,
then riding his KTM500 backdown the same 230km track
to Finke. The next day would
be the return trip, for both
vehicles. Toby attempted this
feat in 2016 only to DNF in the
Trophy Truck on the way back
to Alice Springs.
The long weekend started
well for the North Star
Pastoral KTM Desert Racing
Team, with Price winning the
prologue from the 583-strongmotorcycle field, and after
setting the fourth fastest
time in the Auto category.
Price’s KTM teammate,
David Walsh did not have
an ideal prologue, finishing
28th. Ivan Long (Husqvarna)
was only 0.4 seconds behind
Price and would start second
on the grid. Condobolin’s
Jacob Smith (Honda) was
2.1 seconds off the lead andwould start the run to Finke
in third place.
On Sunday morning, the
Autos hit the dirt first. There
is no doubt years of pre-
running and racing meant
Toby was familiar with the
race track, but his skills as a
driver were apparent when he
managed to set the second-
fastest time to Finke in his
Red Bull-sponsored trophy
truck. After crossing the line,
Price hightailed it back to
Alice to start the bike race.
Despite recent injuries,
the former Dakar winner
had lost none of his outright
desert speed, holding his
KTM 500EXC-F flat in an
impressive incident-free
run into Finke. However the
track and conditions took
their toll on many of the
top names, such as Smith,
Long and four-time Finke
winner Ben Grabham (KTM),
and the DNF list started to116 amcn.com.au
2018 Finke Desert RaceHe mayhavemissedoutonthehistory-makingdouble,
but Toby Price stillrewrote the record booksKnocked for six
REPORT MAX SULLIVAN PHOTOGRAPHY DIRTCOMP & MS1