Smith wins 2018 Condo 750

This year’s win marks the fourth for Smith; part of a remarkable record that has seen the 27-year-old greet the podium on all bar one of his ten starts in the event.

The longest and toughest off-road navigational rally in New South Wales, with 778km of competition and 272km of transit riding, this year’s 30th Condo 750 attracted 62 starters in the moto division, including Dakar veteran Rod Faggotter and Toby Hederics, son of Aus Safari legend John Hederics.

Last year’s winner, Lachlan Manwaring (KTM), was fastest in the 34km Prologue to be first away on Day 1, while 2016 winner Smith started from sixth and Faggotter (Yamaha) tenth; the latter expected to challenge for the win after a strong performance at this year’s Dakar.

By the end of the opening day, Smith had a lead of almost 16 minutes on David Greeves (KTM) and Todd Ridley (Husqvarna), but Faggotter and Manwaring were out, both reportedly hitting kangaroos in separate incidents.

The second day’s competition saw Jake Worland (KTM) greet the flag first, 40 seconds ahead of Nik Forsyth (KTM). Smith was third on Day 2, but his combined time of 8 hours 27 minutes 39 seconds gave him the overall win by almost 20 minutes from Worland (8h47m31s), while Greeves was third (8h49m47s), ahead of Forsyth (8h51m50s) and Andre Haworth (KTM – 8h56m01s).

“I had a really solid weekend and the race pretty much went exactly to plan,” Smith said. “I held back a little in prologue to start sixth and worked my way into the lead at around the 100km mark of the first stage. From then on, I led for the rest of the race.

“The 2018 CRF450R was perfect all weekend, the electric start was ideal and I was really happy with my navigation, not making one mistake the whole race which is pretty rare for Condo. It is very pleasing when everything works and winning by 20 minutes was amazing.” The next hit out for Smith and the Penrite Honda Desert Racing Team will be at the Finke Desert Race. Photo: SWAP Images