David Walsh makes history at Finke Desert Race

David Walsh has continued to rewrite the history books at the Finke Desert Race, winning his fourth consecutive crown with a blistering performance in Northern Territory.

The Alice Springs local piloted his KTM 500 EXC-F to victory ahead of Victorian’s Callum Norton (KTM) and South Australia’s Ivan Long (Husqvarna).

Walsh began the race on the second row of the grid after he placed fourth in Saturday’s Prolouge behind Jacob Smith, Norton, and Korey McMahon.

But any fears that the reigning champ was at risk of losing his title were quickly put to rest as he finished the opening 226km leg in first place with a time of 1h46m25s.

The second leg back to the finish line at Alice Springs unfolded in a similar fashion, with Walsh’s total time of 3h37m44s more than enough to secure the King of the Desert crown.

“I’m super-proud to make it four wins in a row, and I’m glad to be home safe,” Walsh said after the race. “It was a pretty rough track home. I really pinned it on the straights and took my time in the rough stuff. I knew the boys would be coming for me, but I knew I had the speed and a gap.”

The KTM rider was also entered into the car division, co-driving for Brent Smoothy in the Extreme 4WD class. The pair finished sixth on Day 1 but broke down on the return leg.

Walsh’s fourth consecutive two-wheel win makes him just the second rider to achieve such a feat, bettered only by Randall Gregory’s streak of five wins between 1991 and 1995. Gregory never got the chance to win a sixth crown, after he suffered permanent spinal damage in a training accident prior to the 1996 event.

Toby Price holds the all-time wins record with six on two wheels and three on four wheels, while Walsh is now tied with Ben Grabham and Stephen Greenfield in third place with four wins apiece.

Another stat to come out of the 2023 event is that 33-year-old Walsh has landed on the podium at every Finke Desert Race he has finished since 2012. That accounts for an incredible 8 podiums.

Meanwhile, Callum Norton became just the third Victorian to finish on the podium at Finke, joining Jack Simpson and Mark Sladek. Norton put in a very impressive performance, falling just under two minutes short of Walsh’s race-winning time.

Ivan Long was also in the hunt, finishing just over a minute behind Norton to notch up his third podium and his first since 2017.

Fourth place when to Korey McMahon (GASGAS) and fifth place went to Walsh’s brother and KTM teammate, Liam. Smith ended up finishing sixth, while former winner Ben Grabham rode to a very impressive ninth place.

The Car division saw Price win his third consecutive four-wheel title with co-driver Jason Duncan, and while scheduling didn’t allow him to race on two-wheels this year, he hasn’t ruled out attempting to win an unprecedented seventh crown in the Bike category.