Australian Motorcycle News - June 21, 2018

Main: Toby Price thunders to his historic sixth Finke win 1. Price on the podium with the winner’s cheque

2. His KTM Desert racing teammate fought back from his 28th starting position to finish second, just 10
   minutes shy of the win 3. Flat-out and fluid, Toby shows exactly why he’s the undisputed King of the Desert

Who knew?!

IT IS INTERESTING to note that despite many attempts from

international riders, only one rider outside of Australia has come over

to steal the coveted Finke Trophy...literally! It happened over two

decades ago in 1996 when American Dan Ashcraft competed on a

Honda CR500.

After winning the race, Dan was presented with the Finke Perpetual

Trophy and it left Australian shores when Dan returned home.

Despite several efforts, the trophy was never returned and

remained missing until 2007. That year, Steve Hengeveld (Baja

1000 and Dust to Glory fame) came Down Under to race the Finke.

With him was Jerry Bernardo who somehow managed to locate the

missing trophy. Jerry proudly reunited the Finke Trophy with the

Finke Desert Race Committee on presentation night, much to the

crowd’s delight.

2018 OUTRIGHT RESULTS

POS RIDER BIKE TIME

1 T PRICE KTM 3h55m25.1s

2DWALSH KTM 4h05m44.8s

3 J SIMPSON KTM 4h21m06.4s

4KCOLLINS KTM 4h31m01.7s

5 M GROVE HONDA 4h37m23.1s

grow. David Walsh put his
disappointing prologue
aside, riding an impressive
race from Alice to Finke to
post the second-fastest time,
just 4m12s behind Price.
Callum Norton flew the flag
for Honda, coming in 13m19s
behind Price, in third place
aboard his CRF450R.
The overnight camp
at Finke gave Toby time
to rest and recover as he
contemplated the return trip
the following day. First in the
Trophy Truck, then on the
bike. If you think this race is
easy, just ask the 60+ riders

who DNF’d on day one. Price

was happy with his lead, but

not complacent. “The track

has been hard to pick with a

lot of square-edged holes and

you just couldn’t see them

• you are on edge the whole
  time and it is quite difficult,”
  he said. “I pulled a little
  bit of a lead but it is never
  comfortable – this race will
  throw anything at you.”
  With the sun barely above
  the horizon on Monday
  morning, the Auto’s lined
  up for the return run back to
  the Alice. Four-time Finke
  victor Shannon Rentsch was
  first away, with Price starting
  just under 3min behind, in
  second place. The laid-back
  New South Welshman’s
  dream of becoming the first
  person to claim both the Auto
  and Bike category victories
  ended when a power-steering

failure rendered the truck

almost undriveable under race

conditions. A quick chopper

ride back to Finke and Toby

was gearing up ready to ride

his KTM, to what might be a

history making win.

As predicted, this race does

throw things at you, even if

you are Toby Price. A dream

run home was not to be.

Despite having clear air, even

he wasn’t immune to crashing

and at the 100km mark, down

he went. Fortunately, a few

scars on his helmet was all the

harsh desert claimed and he

was able to remount and race

his way to a record-setting

sixth victory. Even with an

unplanned dirt excursion,

Price set an even faster return

time, to give him an overall

winning time of 3h55m25s.

Finishing on the second step

of the podium, just 10 minutes

behind, was Price’s teammate

David Walsh, making it a one-

two for the North Star Pastoral

KTM Desert Racing Team.

Completing the KTM trifecta

was Jack Simpson, also riding

a 500EXC-F with a time of

4h21m6s.

The champagne was a bitter

sweet affair for Price who, for

the second time from as many

attempts, failed to finish the

truck category through no

fault of his own. Though his

two-wheel finesse and talent

is, as we’ve all come to learn,

unrivalled. Certainly here at

Finke, where no one has won

more outright wins than the

likeable Toby Price.

2

3

Stephen Greenfield Ben Grabham

RIDER STATE WINS

TOBY PRICE NSW 6

RANDALL GREGORY NT 5

STEPHEN GREENFIELD NT 4

BEN GRABHAM NSW 4

PHIL LOVETT NSW 3

GEOFF CURTIS NT 3

THE FINKE HAS come a long

way since Geoff Curtis rode his

Yamaha 250cc to victory in the

inaugural race back in 1976. To

win Finke is remarkable. To win

it more than once is something

else. In the 43-year history of

the Finke Desert Race, there has

been a handful of standout stars

to have notched up a few.

Kings of the Desert!

6 of Finke’s finest