Price wins 2012 Finke Desert Race

The Australian Off-Road Championship series leader first won the race in 2010, before Ben Grabham claimed victory in 2011. Grabham was a non-starter after suffering a serious back injury at the Condo 750 in April, but the off-road racing star was on hand at Finke to support Price and the HSE team.

"It's great to get that second victory and it's one that I really wanted this year," Price reflected. "All the hard work's paid off, so I definitely have to thank HSE Motorex KTM for getting us out there - I'm stoked. It was just a lot of hard work and prep that we put in for this year.
"I really wanted to work hard and get this one back, so it's all panned out really well. The Prologue went well, got a good time there, so then I put my head down and went for it on the way down [to Finke]. I got a good, clean run, and it was the same for the return trip. It's all turned out great."

On Saturday Price topped the Prologue in a time of 4:52 to start first in the 200 kilometre trek from Alice Springs to Finke and back. His teammates Brad Williscroft (KTM 450 SX-F) and Matthew Fish (KTM 450 SX-F) were eighth and ninth respectively.

Sunday saw the great race commence and it was again Price who topped the field aboard the KTM 450 SX-F, arriving at Finke for the evening in a time of 1h57:55. Price arrived in Finke almost five minutes ahead of closest rival David Walsh (Honda CRF 450R), while Todd Smith (Honda CRF 450R) was almost five minutes further behind in third. Fish was a promising fourth into Finke, with Williscroft arriving in 12th after day one.

Monday saw Price extend his lead on the way back to Alice Springs, claiming victory for KTM following a gruelling number of weeks pre-running Finke in the lead-up to the race weekend. Price topped Monday's return stage in a time of 1h59:07, amounting in a combined time of 3h57:03 - over nine minutes ahead of Walsh and Smith for his second career Finke win.

Fish cemented fourth in a guest ride for KTM, while Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha YZ 450F) completed the top five. Behind them, Damon Stokie (Honda CRF 450R), Jack Dooley-McDonnell (Yamaha YZ 450F), Williscroft, Mark Sladek (Husaberg FE 570), and Shane Cole (Honda CRF 450) completed the top ten overall in the bike class.

"Toby just rode awesome all weekend, pretty well dominated from start to finish," said Williscroft, who also won the Class 7 win for Senior entrants. "Matt Fish was also a big surprise, put in a lot of effort pre-running and it showed in the race. From a team perspective, we were very happy to get all three riders in the top 10 outright, plus Toby won his class and I won mine. It all came together for a top weekend."

Image: ktm.com.au