Rod Faggotter wins Condo 750

Rod Faggotter has piloted his Yamaha WR450F to victory in the gruelling Condo 750 off-road event in Condobolin (NSW) over Easter.

Faggotter sat in second place after day one, but came home with a serious amount of hustle to register a resounding 33-second triumph over Honda's Todd Smith - despite a last minute scare when he crashed.

But after a trouble-free run before that, Faggotter was able to remount quickly and remain firmly ensconced on the top of the leaderboard.

"It was pretty much smooth sailing, apart from that last minute crash, all the way through. Conditions were tricky on Saturday so I rode conservatively to ensure I was well placed for the run home," said Faggotter. "It was a quick air filter and oil change on Saturday night, top up the fuel and my WR450F was flawless from start to finish.

"That crash near the end got my heart racing, but I had a big enough lead to gather myself and get over the line to take the win.

"I raced the bike I used in the Australian Safari last year. I just dusted it off, took off the rear fuel tanks and it was good to go. It never missed a beat all weekend and it already had plenty of use before we came here."

The punishing two-day event saw over 80 riders navigate their way 800km of rugged countryside. Recent rain in the region meant there was plenty of difficult terrain to pass, with wash-outs and standing water a real issue on day one. Day two was then a complete contrast, with severe dust the biggest enemy of the riders.

Jacob Smith, last year's Australasian Safari winner, made it two Honda CRF450Xs on the podium in third.