David Walsh has been crowned King of the Desert for a fourth time in a row in the Bikes section of the Tatts Finke Desert Race.
The KTM rider set the fastest time on the outbound leg to Aputula (Finke), and while he was not quickest on the way back up the 226km track, he had enough margin to take overall victory by just under two minutes.
“It feels pretty cool to be on top of the podium,” said Walsh, whose event time was 3:35:48.903s on his KTM 500 EXC-F.
“I’m just a very lucky man. I’ve got a very good team behind me and a very supportive family so I’m very lucky.”
Callum Norton, on a KTM 450 EXC-F, stayed in second place, 1:53.905s adrift, despite his 1:48:44.552s being the fastest time of the return leg.
Ivan Long (Husqvarna FE 501) was classified just over a minute slower as he rounded out the podium, ahead of Korey McMahon (GasGas MC450) and Liam Walsh (KTM 500 EXC-F).
Jacob Smith (Husqvarna FE 501) won the Prologue but was crashed into by Norton on Leg 1 and slipped from fifth to sixth in the return leg.
Earlier, six-time Finke Bikes champion Toby Price won a third straight Cars title, while David Walsh’s bid for a historic Iron Man double, as a navigator, came unstuck when Brent Smoothy was a DNF.
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