MOTORSPORT: 2014 Finke done and dusted

Shannon and Ian Rentsch have claimed victory in the 2014 Tatts Finke Desert Race, making it the third time the Victorian son and father team have taken the top spot in one of the world's most gruelling desert races.

Celebrating its 39th year in 2014, the Finke Desert Race is one of the crown jewels of Australian motorsport, attracting ever-increasing numbers of hard-core off-road racers to the Red Centre every June long weekend.

This year more than 400 bikes and 90 cars took part, the rough and tough track producing plenty of hard-luck stories and treating more than 10,000 spectators to some classic desert racing action.

Although 'The Alice' is greener than usual at this time of the year, there was still plenty of dust around as the buggies with their huge off-road racing tyres tore into the desert dirt at close to 200km/h.

The 226km blast from Alice Springs down to an overnight camping stop at the remote Aboriginal settlement of Aputula on the Finke River, on the northern edge of the Simpson Desert, generally follows the old Ghan Railway line and the four-wheeled field was packed with past winners looking to add another Finke to their resume.

David Fellows has dominated the event in recent years with no less than five victories as a driver, but in 2014 he was out of luck with a broken camshaft on his way down to Finke on Sunday morning.

Two-times winner Haden Bentley was also sidelined after a roll and never made the restart back to Alice Springs on Monday, having crawled into Finke after dropping more than an hour on the leading Rentsch crew.

The Warrnambool boys had their Nissan-powered Jimco buggy well and truly wound up, topping the score sheets with a time of 1:49.5 seconds -- close to a minute ahead of South Australian's Jack Rhodes and Dave Pullino in another Jimco.

Prologue winners from Saturday, Travis Robinson and Paul Currie, rounded out the top three a further two and a half minutes back.

Billy Geddes from Queensland achieved his unique Finke ambition by finishing seventh on leg one in his #441 Geiser Brothers Trophy Truck V8 with navigator Jamie Ward.

Immediately after arriving in Finke, Geddes was on a helicopter back to the Alice Springs start line to mount his KTM bike and do the distance all over again in his quest to become the first person ever to compete in both the car and bike category at the same event. Come Monday, he had achieved his ambition, making a truly remarkable achievement.

Mirroring their drive to Finke, the top three repeated the process on the way back, with the Rentsch family even quicker on the return trip in a time of 1:47.56, making them a triple crown holder after victories in 2005 and 2006, with a total time of 3:37.02.

Speaking after the race, Shannon Rentsch said the team had a troubled build-up with buggy problems not being resolved until the afternoon before prologue.

“But from the start line yesterday everything went well. This is the 12th time we have done Finke. This is the biggest race on our calendar and it’s the race everyone wants to win. We have been in a winning position before and haven’t made it so victory is an awesome feeling.

“On the way back today we were a bit concerned about running out of fuel, and a few years ago we broke an axle within sight of the finish line so we don’t take it for granted before we cross that (finishing) line,” he added.

Rhodes and Pullino were ecstatic about claiming their first podium (although Rhodes' father Greg placed second on a bike in 1981) after making the return trip in 1:52.32, for a total time of 3:42.29 – less than five and half minutes behind the winners.

"We changed suspension settings overnight and had had a few hairy moments," said Rhodes. "We tried to miss all the big holes on the way back and were concerned about the car breaking."

Third-placed Robinson sounded dejected, however. The West Australian said he had ‘driven conservatively’ but suffered engine trouble at the 100km mark on the run down.

“The boys stayed up all night and put the spare motor in," he said after rewarding them with a podium position for their efforts.

The biggest ever field in the UTW (side-by-side) category comprised no fewer than 16 entries, including Finke 'virgins' former Australian Rally Champion Cody Crocker in a Polaris and former WRC driver and current television personality Michael Guest in a CanAm.

The category was eventually won by Phillip Swindale and Matt Costello aboard a Polaris RZR 1000, with a time just under six hours for the round trip.

In all, Geddes covered 904 competitive kilometres in his car and on his bike, plus another 452km in the chopper. The super-fit Queensland competitor finished seventh in the cars with a total time of 3:54.58 and 211th in the bike field with a time of 6:46.07.

Speaking after his epic achievement, Geddes said "he was a bit gob-smacked to be here (at the finish line)".

The huge bike field was won by New South Welshman Toby Price for the third time after a near-flawless performance. Price, who also won in 2010 and 2012, was dominant from start to finish after winning Saturday’s Prologue and leading at the midway point on Sunday.

Riding his #299 KTM 500 EXC, the 26-year-old completed a remarkable comeback from injury after breaking three bones in his neck during a race in the US last year.

Price won by about two minutes with a time of 3:56.29 after a battle with David Walsh on a Honda CRF 450 and South Australian KTM rider Ivan Long, who was just 11 seconds behind Walsh.

Off-road race legend Bruce Garland and his long-time navigator Harry Suzuki steered their Isuzu MU-X to victory in Class Seven (Production 4WD, diesel not exceeding 7200cc), marking the seven-seat SUV's international race debut.

Driving a race-prepared MU-X outputting about 195kW/600Nm (up from the standard 3.0-litre turbo-diesel's 130kW/380Nm), Garland finished 48th overall in a field of 91 cars and buggies, 38 of which failed to finish.

Many have tried but only a handful of competitors have dominated the roughest, toughest and dirtiest desert race in the nation. If this year's event is any guide, the 40th Finke Desert Race in 2015 will be the biggest ever.

More photos of the Finke Desert Rally here