Smith victorious in Australasian Safari prologue

All the experienced Safari moto riders finished strongly, with the fastest in the bike section being Jacob Smith on a Honda CRF450, who finished eight seconds ahead of last year's winner Ben Grabham. Two seconds behind him was Jake's brother Todd Smith, riding the same model bike as his brother.

Dakar champion Cyril Despres finished eighth on his KTM 450RR and said he had a few frustrations, not finishing as fast as he would like.
"I caught the dust off other riders with only one minute between each rider starting.
"The navigation is a bit different to what I am used to so it will take me a couple of days to sort this out. But we have a lot of days ahead," Despres said.

Sam Sunderland had a dramatic start to the Safari when a small electrical component came loose on his Husaberg and got caught in his steering and jammed, forcing him off his bike at high speed.
"I cartwheeled off the bike, it was so scary," Sunderland said. Despite this, the young English rider finished eleventh overall.

Amongst the small field of quads, Paul Smith leads the way on his Honda TRX 700XX. Smith finished over 50 seconds ahead of Heath Young (KTM XC Rallye), with John Maragozidis a further 50+ seconds back on his custom MMR Interceptor 850.

The Prologue finished with a rousing public welcome at the picturesque Geraldton Foreshore.

Leg One will see competitors race from Geraldton inland to Mt Magnet over 328 competitive km. The terrain varies from open station country to rough, rocky and narrow tracks. The course continues along the Vermin Proof Fence where course crews enter a 'Quiet Zone' and competition is restricted to 70 kph whilst travelling along the fenceline. The day will finish with the extremes of fast and flowing trails to rough and rocky tracks, with recent rains creating severe erosion.