David Walsh leads the Finke Desert Race in the Bikes
KTM rider David Walsh is the Bikes leader after Leg 1 of the Tatts Finke Desert Race, while Prologue winner Jacob Smith was hit by one of his rivals.
Walsh (KTM 500 EXC-F), winner of the Bikes crown in each of the last three editions and this year also vying for a Cars title as a navigator, was only fourth in the Prologue but set a time of 1:46:25.8s on his ride down the 226km track from Alice Springs to Aputula (Finke).
His advantage now is 2:32.424s, with Callum Norton (KTM 450 EXC-F) in second place and Ivan Long (Husqvarna FE 501) just under a minute further back in third.
“Pretty stoked with my ride,” said Walsh, whose average speed was 127km/h.
“Jacob [Smith] and I had a little battle there before the fuels and then I had a bit of clean air and sort of settled in and hit the lines that I knew and not do anything too stupid.”
The Alice Springs local is navigating for Brent Smoothy in the Extreme 4WD class, with those two claiming sixth in Leg 1 in the Cars section.
“It honestly filled in the morning,” remarked Walsh about riding shotgun with Smoothy before returning to the Alice to start his two-wheel journey.
“Otherwise, you’re standing around waiting to get on your bike all day and the nerves kick in too much, so it actually helped me I think.”
Liam Walsh (KTM 500 EXC-F) sits fourth while Jacob Smith is fifth after a collision with Norton, for which the latter took responsibility.
“Had a crash at the start and unfortunately I just misjudged the line with Jacob, and unfortunately we came together,” admitted Norton.
“But, my fault, not his. He was on his line and I just misjudged it and went down, so that was a bit of a bummer start.
“I just had to pick myself up and charge on. [David] Walshy got me around the buggy club there about 40km in and then just put my head down.
“[I] Managed to get around Jake around the 150 [kilometre mark] and yeah, just ticked away to here and come in second.”
Earlier, six-time Finke Bikes champion Toby Price set the pace in the Cars, as he goes for a third straight four-wheel title in the Northern Territory.
The Cars field will start the return journey to Alice Springs tomorrow at 07:15 local time/07:45 AEST, followed by the Bikes at 12:00 local time/12:30 AEST.