Australasian Dirt Bike — September 2017

152 | SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.adbmag.com.au

FACTORY RIDE/READERSRIDE/HERITAGE/ACTION/OAS / BUYERS GUIDE

THE RIDER

LUKE HAYES

Being an Alice local, Finke is

the epitome, so that’s what

I’ve been working towards. My

fi rst Finke was in 2012 and I’ve

done four of them. After being

the fi rst privateer home last

year in sixth, I was in a position

to receive support from KTM. I

was given a bike at the start of

the year and I started testing

with GK and the crew when

they came up to Alice.

Originally I was going to be

on a standard support ride,

but when Toby was no longer

able to race, and his bike was

spare, GK rang me to say I was

the next guy in line to ride one

of KTM’s proper racebikes.

For a kid like me from Alice

who grows up idolising the

Finke champions, it’s been an

awesome experience. The KTM

racebike was amazing. I’ve

never ridden anything like it. I

rode the bike for the fi rst time

in the week leading into the

race and loved it. The bike was

unreal and very powerful.

My preferences aren’t that

different to David Walsh’s,

ORANGE HAYES

1 Luke is from Deep Well, a

cattle station that the Finke

track runs alongside.

2 His family has a long

history with the cattle

industry.

3 His father Billy fi nished

third in the bike category at

Finke in 1998.

4 The KTM casualty list

included Toby Price, Tye

Simmonds, Jack Simpson and

David Walsh. Hayes was the

last man standing on the

team.

5 He fi nished 15th in his

debut at Finke.

5 THINGS

YOU DIDN’T KNOW

ABOUT LUKE

1

2

3

1.Luke has competed in four Finke

Desert races

2.Luke’s bike only differed from

Walsh’s in suspension

3.Luke not only idolised Grabbo

but changed his appearance to

look like him

apart from my suspension.

One other difference is the

position of my Steg rubbers. I

have them more forward than

others. Most riders like to put

them really far back to swing

off them. I prefer having them

forward because I kind of feel

like I’ve got more leverage.

I’m not superstitious. If my

socks have a left and right, I

like to put the left one on the

left foot and the right one on

the right foot, but that’s it.

We had to start from scratch

on setup with the new bike.

When we got to Finke, we’d

developed something that was

good for everyone, but there

wasn’t time to fi ne-tune

settings for each individual.

I’m also going to race Hattah

for the fi rst time this year. I

was fortunate to fi nish where I

did this year and now I feel like

I’m moving in the right

direction. If I keep training

hard and, there’s no reason

why things can’t get better.

THE TEAM MANAGER

GLENN KEARNEY

Luke’s result at Finke this year

was his all-time best. He came

on board with us early in the

year as a support rider for

KTM. Luke put in the hard

yards pre-running with the

rest of the boys.

We started the year with

Toby in doubt after his Dakar

injury, and then Tye Simmonds

pulled out, so we drafted in

Jack Simpson and had high

hopes for last year’s third

placegetter, David Walsh. We

gave Toby as much time as

possible to make the call on

racing. After a pre-run we

knew it wasn’t possible so at

the 11th hour we bumped Luke

up to the full factory bike.

Luke had received support

during pre-running and he was

over the moon to step up to

Toby’s bike. He’s a young local

feller and a big, strong lad who

I knew would take the ball and

run with it. He put in the effort,

and he looked pretty

impressive from the chopper,

with the way he can ride the

whoops. Luke rode extremely

well to nail down a podium

fi nish for himself and KTM.

with Dylan Ruddy

REAR GUARD

STEG PEGZ

MICHELIN

DESERT TYRES

EK CHAINS

IMS OVERSIZE

FUEL TANK

GDR SUSPENSION

FMF MUFFLER

FA

CTORY

RIDE

KTM DESERT

RACING

EXC 500