Australian rider Andrew Houlihan has extended his lead in the Veterans class of the FIA Baja World Cup against the strongest field of the year in Hungary.

The Albury New South Wales rider, who has support from Speedcafe, finished second in the Veterans class and seventh overall in the 450cc World Cup class.

He has extended his lead in the Veteran’s world title to 31 points from Portugal’s Pedro Bianchi Parata with Spain’s Toni Vingut another 29 points away in third.

The UAE’s Mohammed Al Balooshi leads the 450cc World Cup on 61 points from Portugal’s David Megre (52), while Houlihan sits third outright another eight points back.

“I was so glad to cross the finish line this afternoon in one piece,” said Houlihan after the final stage.

“Today was crazy hard. We rode yesterday’s course in reverse with a few additional routes.

“The cars and trucks had completely destroyed the tracks and it was 260km today of non-stop holding on for my life.

“Thankfully the cable ties holding my navigation tower together held up. I took some big risks today that I would usually not take and rode close to my limit in some sections.

“I haven’t pushed that hard since I used to race motocross five years ago, but those races usually only went for 15 minutes, not six hours.

The final day of the Hungarian event was run in extremely hot conditions and Houlihan suffered bad fatigue over the last 100km.

“I had a very close call with a deer at about 130km/h on one of the fast forest sections,” said Houlihan.

“That certainly got the heart rate up.

“I am happy to be making the 33-hour trip back home without any major physical issues.”

There are three rounds of the World Cup remaining with an event in Portugal in six weeks before the championship closes off with events in Dubai and Jordan.