Grabham untouchable in Finke

The Ben Grabham outback juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down, after the KTM rider won his third consecutive Tattersall's Finke Desert Race over the Queen's birthday long weekend.

Grabham won the 460km desert 'sprint' from Alice to Fine return by nearly nine minutes over KTM racing boss Brad Williscroft, with South Australian Chad Billett third.

After he led by over seven minutes on the run to Finke, Grabham only had to stay upright on the run home to guarantee victory. Even in conservation mode, Grabham managed to win the stage by 19 seconds over Billett.

"This was my toughest ever Finke Desert Race, and the most rewarding win," said Grabham. "It was my first Finke on the KTM, and my first Finke where I had my family all attend, so that kept me on my toes. Things started well for me at prologue when I qualified second, which is the best result I have ever secured in prologue.

"This put me on the first minute to take off, and I haven't done that before either, which gave me extra confidence. It just proved to me how suited the KTM 505 XC-F was for me, and for this race.

"Once the race down to Finke got underway, I took the lead by the first turn, and didn't look back. I was just focusing on the terrain ahead of me, and was really surprised that when I got into Finke I was seven minutes ahead of my nearest competitor.

"That was massive for me, because in previous years second has only been a few seconds behind me. So this was another confidence booster, but I knew it wasn't over yet, and I still had to be on the pace heading back to Alice Springs.
 
"It turns out I had a cruisy run home, everything just went really well for me, and I didn't feel like I was riding that fast, it all just came natural to me, and the KTM. When I heard Wonks (Brad Williscroft) was in second, I was stoked because together we had put in a solid team effort to ensure we were on the gas for Finke. 

"I won this year's Finke by a good margin, and secured my third consecutive win for the event and my first win with KTM, I couldn't be happier!"

Mark Sladek and Michael Walsh completed the top five, only 13 seconds apart.

Polaris rider Luke Beechey won the ATV division, from Can-Am duo Paul Smith and Mick Roycroft.

For the top 20 outright, click here. For the top three in each class, click here.