Stokie wins 2017 Finke Desert Race

Yamaha’s Daymon Stokie has won the 2017 Finke Desert Race, held in the Northern Territory on the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

In four hours and 11 minutes, the Alice Springs local claimed the spoils from Husqvarna rider Ivan Long, followed by Luke Hayes (KTM) in third position.

“It’s been an unbelievable couple of days,” said Stokie.

“It was a huge relief to get the win and reward the team for a massive effort. I knew catching David (Walsh) was a tough ask but sometimes things go your way and we got a little lucky with that but that’s the way it goes at Finke, it just isn’t an easy race to win.

“A huge thank you to everyone at Yamaha and the Active8 Yamaha team for their support and belief in me this year. I was bought in for events like this so it is an awesome feeling to do exactly as we set out to do.

“The WR500F was perfect from start to finish and the team did a great job with testing and the bike. Also, thank you to my friends and family who continue to support me each and every year and it’s great to have them all here with me on such a successful weekend."

Stokie's victory was the first for Yamaha since Stephen Gall took the honours way back in 1986. And Stokie's only the fourth separate winner of the event since 2007, with Ben Grabham (2007-2009, 2011), Toby Price (2010, 2012, 2014-2016) and Todd Smith (2013) having been victorious since that time.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned David Walsh (KTM) led by nearly six minutes after day one, but his hopes of succeeding Price as Finke champion were scuppered by a mechanical problem.

That left Stokie free to claim the honours by nearly four minutes over Long, with Hayes another 30 seconds behind in third. The top 10 was completed by Kent Collins (KTM), Sam Davies (Husqvarna), Nathan Trigg (KTM), Smith (Honda), Ricky Lane (Husaberg), Mark Grove (Husqvarna) and William Turner (Husqvarna).

2017 FINKE DESERT RACE RESULTS

A total of 453 riders completed the 460km epic, and 103 failed to finish including some high-profile riders in the shape of Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha), Josh Green (Yamaha) and Jacob Smith (Honda).