Price attack at the Finke

Forced to sit out the 2013 Finke Desert Race (FDR) with a broken neck after a training accident, Toby Price has made amends in the most emphatic fashion, blasting his KTM 500 EXC to a commanding victory in the 20124 event over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

Despite track conditions being described by many riders as among the toughest they had experienced, Price's winning time of 3h 56m 29s (3:56.29) was considerably faster than the winning time set by Honda rider Todd Smith at last year’s event (4:02:08).

Price was on the attack from the minute he jumped on his KTM. Already a two-time FDR winner in 2010 and 2012, Price was out to prove he wasn't a spent force by winning the prologue on Saturday to grab top seed for the run down to Finke.

Sunday dawned and Price was never headed, crossing the line in Finke over two minutes ahead of local rider David Walsh (Honda CRF450R), with Ivan Long (500 EXC) from Tanunda (SA) less than a minute behind again.

The positions remained the same for the blast back home to Alice Springs on Monday. Long blitzed the ride back to keep the pressure on Walsh, who only had an 11-second gap on him at the finish line.

“Two minutes ahead at Finke was a lot better than two behind, but it was no guarantee," said Price. "I went quicker in my time on the way back, but I tried not to go overboard through the whoops, and just keep it on two wheels. I could have gone quicker still, but I didn't need to. The body was pretty good, my hand flew off the bars on the way down which jarred it and then I rode a little bit different so that blistered up a little, but overall fitness was pretty good.

"I think it's going to be really hard to wipe the smile off my face for a while -- I've put in the work but I was never sure I could come back to this level after my injury, and be able to go flat out the whole way. It feels great to get that monkey off my back, and I feel like I can put the neck injury in my past and forget about it and go back to doing what I normally do.”

Despite being hit by a nasty stomach bug – he checked himself into hospital the day before the event to rehydrate himself – Josh Green (Yamaha YZ450F) was an excellent fourth, ahead of Daymon Stokie, Jack Dooley-McDonnell, 2013 winner Todd Smith and Michael Walsh, the quartet all riding CRF450Rs.

Multiple champion Ben Grabham (500 EXC) was 11th, while Phil Swindale / Matt Costello (Polaris RZR XP 1000) and Mitchell Van Vliet (Yamaha YZF450R) won the side-by-side and quad classes respectively.

More than 400 bikes and 90 cars took part in the 39th edition of the FDR, while more than 10,000 spectators camped along the route to soak up the action and eat a lot of dust.