Smith and Riley the boss cockies

Todd Smith and Steve Riley have sauntered through the final day of competition in this year’s Australian Safari, producing convincing victories in the moto and auto classes respectively.

When the curtain was drawn in Kalgoorlie (WA) after an incredibly challenging seven days of competition, 26-year-old Smith (Honda CRF450X), was rewarded for producing an exceptionally consistent effort from go-to-whoa, while most of his top-tier rivals were either injured or taken out of calculations by mechanical issues.

“It’s a great feeling, I’ve been chasing this for a few years and it’s my fourth attempt at Safari,” said Smith, who hails from Condobolin in NSW. “It’s not sunk in yet and this is my first major win in something like this.”

Heading into the final day, only Todd’s brother Jacob (CRF450X) was capable of causing an upset, but Todd enjoyed a dream run to eventually complete the 4000km epic nearly 20 minutes ahead – the biggest winning margin since 2008.

Yamaha’s Rod Faggotter (WR450X) battled on for the second part of the race with a broken bone in his hand to finish third, with Ben Grabham (Husaberg FE570) and Shane Diener (WR450F) completing the top five.

Some of the big name riders who failed to finish included star KTM trio Ben Grabham (450SXF - mechanical), Matthew Fish (505SXF – mechanical) and Dakar Rally champion Cyril Despres (450 Rally – injury), while Diener was undoubtedly the fastest rider – he won eight of the 17 stages -- but lost four hours on leg five due to a mechanical failure.

Diener and UK rider Sam Sunderland (FE570) won two stages apiece on the final day.

Meanwhile, Riley and navigator John Doble (Mitsubishi Pajero) have again proven that outback rallies aren’t all about raw speed, as they collected a third trophy in four years.

All victories include some amount of good fortune, and for Riley it came on day five when pacesetter Craig Lowndes rolled the Holden Colorado he was sharing with John Panozzo.

That was all the invitation Riley required to take over the running, and he didn’t put a foot wrong over the final two days.

"My team is legendary, and I couldn't have done it without them,” said Riley. “We are close knit and this is the result we’ve been aiming for all year.”

The Mitsubishi domination of the major placings continued withy Western Australian rookies John Purshouse and David McShane (Triton) in second, while fellow Sandgropers Adrian Dilallo and Rob Masi placed third in their production-class Mitsubishi Pajero Evo, a move up the ladder from sixth place in 2010.

Experienced quad rider and 2009 Australasian Safari winner – as well as organic almond farmer -- John Maragozidis (Interceptor 850) won comfortably, about four hours ahead of Colin Lawson who lost nine hours in penalties in leg four after mechanical failure (Can-Am Renegade). Neville Yeatman (Can-Am Outlander) was the third and final finisher.

“It feels bloody good. Today was cool. The first half I took it easy and then got excited and just went for it. It’s just starting to sink in,” Maragozidis said.

Ninety competitors started the Australasian Safari in the auto, moto, quad and non-competitive Adventure Tour categories, and 69 crossed the final line in Kalgoorlie.