DESERT
STORM
THE RIDER
CALLUMNORTON
Iwasreallyluckytogetthe
opportunitytojointhisteam.
GK[GlennKearney]
approachedmelastyearand
theywerekeenonmejust
doingdesert,whichobviously
wasabitdifferentcoming
frommotocross.Iwasalways
prettybusyswitchingover
frommotocrosstoabitof
desert,tooff-road.Sotojoin
theKTMteamandjustfocus
onFinkeandHattahwas
different,butI’vebeenloving
itandallthepre-runningup
untilFinkewasawesome.
David Walsh was unreal and
looked after me like a brother.
I’ve really been enjoying it.
The 450EXC-F is an
awesome bike. It’s still pretty
similar to a motocross bike,
weight-wise. It’s really light
and fast. It’s got a sixth gear,
which is nice coming off the
Honda last year. Riding
motocross bikes my whole life,
I’ve only ever had a five-
speed, so getting the extra
gear in the desert is awesome.
The thing handles unreal as
well. All the boys work hard
and they want to cover
everything over the bike and
make sure it is all good to go.I’m still pretty new at Finke;
it’s only my second year. So
this year, with pre-running, I
was still learning a lot of the
track. We obviously spent a lot
of time with the bike as well.
I’m similar to Walshy and Toby
Price, so they had a good setup
straightaway. But I look to just
dial in little things with the
suspension and we also played
a lot with tyre wear and what
to run. For Hattah, we’re just
doing suspension. The engine
is pretty much covered; we use
the same package as at Finke
and the thing is amazing.
I prologued in 13th. I wasn’t
too stressed but it wasn’t theideal spot to be with the dust. I
had a good run down, which
was nice. I got past maybe six
or seven bikes and, on
corrected time, I was fourth
fastest. I felt good and I
wanted to put in a good charge
on the way home. But a little
mistake out there can cost
you. I was just lacking a little
concentration and had a good
crash which banged me up
pretty well. I dropped a few
spots but managed to get back
to fifth which was nice
considering I crashed. It wasn’t
the ideal weekend but it was
still nice to be in the top five
and podium in the 450 class.REAR GUARD
HOW TO RIDE / ADB GARAGE / WE RECOMMEND / TE /KIDZ KORNER / USED RIDE /
FA
CTORY
RIDE
KTM DESERT
RACING TEAM
450EXC-F152 | SEPTEMBER 2019 http://www.adbmag.com.au
GDR-TUNED
SUSPENSIONIMS TANK
FMF POWER
BOMB PIPE