Ben Grabham out to make it a hat-track of Finke wins

I think we've reached critical mass, your honour. A staggering 477 motorcycles and quads will compete in the 2009 Tattersall's Finke Desert Race, to be held this Queen's birthday long weekend in the Northern Territory.

But did you know the Queen's birthday is actually April 26?

I digress. The Finke Desert race, arguably Australia's most popular outback event, will be held for the 34th time from June 6-8, which will see competitors make a 460km return trip from Alice Springs to Finke over two days. June 6 wil be a prologue to determine starting positions.

The course follows the path set by the Old Ghan railway, and has a bit of everything along its trajectory - dirt, sand, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. To some people that's bland, to others impossibly beautiful.

But scenery will be superfluous to the 477 competitors, who will be concentrating on finding the fast way on a track that is becoming bumpier by the year.

This year's pacesetters, expected to include the likes of defending champion Ben Grabham, Ryan Branford, Brad Williscroft and Caleb Auricht, wil set an average speed of around 115km/h in the race, which equates to a tick over two hours each way.

Grabham has won the past two years on a Honda, but in 2009 wil be riding a KTM under the same umbrella as Williscroft.

Branford, one of a large number of local riders competing in the Finke, is a perennial contender, and won in 2006 before finishing runner-up the last two years.

Branford dominated on the run home last year, but couldn't peg back the formidable Grabham, who has dominated desert racing in Australia over the last few years.

The Finke Desert race began as a personal challenge in 1976, when a group of Alice lads challenged themselves to a grudge match "there and back" a reference to a Finke return trip.

Form those humble beginning, it quickly gained in popularity, and before too long it had developed a cult following. Cars and buggies also joined the fray for the first time in 1988.

For more information on the Finke Desert Race, click here.