Toby Price adds another Finke Desert title to his name
Truck title attempt ends with failed power steering pump
Toby Price has added yet another Finke Desert Race title to his name, this the sixth, being crowned King of the Desert 2018 after winning the motorcycle category.
Price managed to seal the win despite falling off his bike with 100 kilometres to go, taking victory after a 1 hour 57 minutes and 39.5 second journey back from Finke today. The Red Bull racer crossed the line over 10 minutes ahead of Alice Spring’s David Walsh (#299 KTM 500 EXC-F) in second place.
Toby Price
“2010 was a surprise and who would have thought we’d be here celebrating number six today. I love coming back to Finke and playing in the red dirt, it’s always a good time. We’re pumped to have got another win… David made it pretty hard for us and we definitely had to push on the way home because from where David came from yesterday, I thought he was definitely going to push today. We tried to push hard but the track was brutal and we had an off at the 100km mark, which rattled us a little bit and scratched the helmet up. I’ve got a bit of a sore neck, but we’re here, we’re happy and I haven’t got a bad time so I can’t complain.”
Local Walsh was depleted of energy upon arrival in Alice Springs and was happy to make the podium after a gruelling weekend. The KTM rider was greeted by a huge cheer from family and local fans.
Sidelined due to injury in 2017, 22-year-old Jack Simpson (#296 KTM 500 EXC-F) was thrilled to finish third Australia’s toughest off-road race in his rookie year on the KTM 500. The Victorian finished fourth on Sunday and moved through the field in an impressive 2 hours, 12 minutes and 22.5 seconds today.
2018 Tatts Finke Desert Race: Bikes Outright Top 10 Finishers
- Toby Price (#295 KTM 500 EXC-F)
- David Walsh (#299 KTM 500 EXC-F)
- Jack Simpson (#296 KTM 500 EXC-F
- Kent Collins (#4 KTM 500 EXC-F)
- Mark Grove (#9 HONDA CRF250R)
- Angus Gelly (#9 KTM 500 EXC-F)
- Caleb Auricht (#499 HONDA CRF250R)
- Lachlan Summers (#11 KTM 500 EXC-F)
- Jerakye Andrews (#494 YAMAHA YZ250F)
- Nathan Trigg (#6 SHERCO 450SEF)
Full results for the 2018 Tatts Finke Desert Race can be found here (link).
Trucks
The win was sweet solace to Price after recording a DNF in his trophy truck this morning, putting an end to his promising Iron Man Double campaign.
“Unfortunately we blew a power steering pump. I’m a pretty big guy but it would have wrecked my bike race if I had tried to wheel the truck back, so we had to park the truck on the side of the track and chopper our way back to Finke and set out to try and win for the sixth time out here.”
Shannon and Ian Rentsch (#33 Jimco Aussie Special Nissan 3500cc) have been crowned Kings of the Desert once again, claiming a record-breaking sixth title at the 2018 Tatts Finke Desert Race.
The father-son duo from Warrnambool, Victoria, completed a lights to flag victory, maintaining the top spot from Prologue through to Finke and back, to take the coveted win in 1 hour 48 minutes and 39.5 seconds today.
Five-time winner David Fellows with Gregory Rhodes and Mark Bergamin (#492 Geiser Bros Trophy Truck Nissan 3500cc) followed the Rentschs in second place, crossing the line 16 minutes and 47.7 seconds behind the leaders after starting third this morning.
After rolling their buggy in Prologue, Jack Rhodes and David Pullino (#91 Jimco Aussie Special Nissan) impressively moved through the field today to finish in third place, their fourth podium finish in Australia’s toughest off-road race.
2018 Tatts Finke Desert Race: Cars Outright Top 10 Finishers
- Shannon & Ian Rentsch (#33 Jimco Aussie Special Nissan 3500cc)
- David Fellows, Gregory Rhodes & Mark Bergamin (#492 Geiser Bros Trophy Truck Nissan 3500cc)
- Jack Rhodes & David Pullino (#91 Jimco Aussie Special Nissan)
- Talbot Cox & Andrew North (#16 Racer Engineering Carbon Series Toyota 5600cc)
- Michael Marson & Chris Colbourne (#32 Racer Engineering Carbon Series Ford Windsor 6000cc)
- Josh Howells & Bryan Erskine (#15 Jimco Aussie Special Nissan 3480cc)
- Shawn & Robert Swaffield (#110 Alumicraft Australian VQ35 3500cc)
- Mark Burrows & Colin Hodge (#21 Jimco MBR Holden 3500cc)
- Michael Magher & Daniel Hose (#482 TSCO 5.99cc)
- Peter Costello & Ben Brooks (#23 Jimco 2000 Toyota 3500cc)
