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NEWS
MOTORSPORT: Finke Desert Race run and won
Cadillac powers Bentley to Finke Desert Race victorySouth Australian buggy driver Hayden Bentley has again savoured the victory champagne at the conclusion of Australia’s toughest off road race – only this time he chose to drink alone.
It's been a long time between drinks for the Port Pirie caravan park owner, but six years after his first King of the Desert crown at the Finke, Bentley has done it again. In the process he has become just the second solo buggy driver to win the four-wheel section of the Finke, the last being Paul Simpson back in 1997.
When Bentley took his first crown in 2007 he was partnered by co-driver Ben Chivell but this year he took the win alone, piloting the 452 km track to the Aputula settlement on the Finke River and back to Alice in a total time of 3hrs 42mins 38secs, almost four minutes faster than his nearest rival.
The achievement of winning Finke solo cannot be underestimated, with the myriad sand hills, gullies, washaways, jumps and other hazards such as wildlife and livestock combining to make the race they call the Bathurst of the Bush difficult enough for two man crews and even harder with one set of eyes.
Bentley blitzed the field Sunday on the run down from the Alice Springs start to the overnight stop at Finke on day one of the race but the return journey proved to be a nail biting affair as the Racer buggy powered by a 3.5 litre turbocharged Cadillac V6 engine started to succumb to the conditions in the final run to the flag.
“It looked like I was going to get a relatively easy and very fast run after Beau Robinson rolled his Trophy Truck about 20 kilometres from Finke on the return but then around 60 kilometres from the chequered flag I started to hear noises and had to back off,” said Bentley.
“It turned out that it was a constant velocity (CV) joint on the rear and it was rapidly deteriorating and I actually crossed the line at an extremely slow pace,” he added.
The problem didn’t handicap Bentley too much with his return leg taking him just three minutes more than his blistering first leg to Finke on Sunday.
In second place was the Victorian son and father team of Shannon and Ian Rentsch who chased Bentley in vane in their Jimco 3.5 litre turbo Nissan-powered buggy, stopping the clocks with a total event time of 3 hours 46 minutes and 25 seconds, 3 mins 47 secs behind Bentley.
“We had a very good run and were pleased to be back on the podium after not having finished the Finke for the past four years despite having won back in 2005 and 2006,” said Ian Rentsch.
Another Finke veteran, Mark Burrows from Victoria and NSW co driver Colin Hodge, brought their Nissan powered Jimco home in third place another 3mins 39 secs behind the Rentsch machine.
It was a tough weekend for the four-wheel contenders with a trail of broken cars littered across the 452km course; many of the highly fancied contenders went out on the first day or even before. Reigning race champion and pre event favourite, Brad Gallard failed to make the start after engine problems in Saturday’s prologue, while both the Peter Kittle team Jimco Toyota buggies were sidelined in the run to Finke on day one; Andrew Kittle hit a herd of cattle and brother Matt retired after a massive crash. Both brothers were okay following their shunts, the same could not be said for the cattle!
Regular Kittle Team driver Dave Fellowes, who had hoped to run the new Kittle team Toyota Trophy Truck but was forced to borrow a Nissan powered Jimco buggy from the Rhodes off-road team, was forced out just 20km short of Finke when the car’s CV joints failed. Similarly highly favoured Perth driver Travis Robinson was sidelined with a broken ECU in his Nissan Buggy 35km from the start.
Just 47 of the 99 entrants made it down to Finke and back to Alice underlining just how tough this race really is.
In the bike section Todd Smith from Condobolin in NSW took the King of the Desert crown after beating off a determined challenge from younger brother Jacob making it the first time two siblings have shared the podium at the Finke race in its 38-year history.
Todd’s victory also brought Honda its 20th win in the Finke race, a better than 50 per cent strike rate for the Japanese factory which has had to play second fiddle to Austria’s KTM for the past four years.
Riding his Honda CRF450R Todd was fastest on both legs completing the return to Alice in a total time of 4 hrs 2 min 8 secs while brother Jacob on his similar Glenn Hoffman Racing Honda finished 3 mins 55secs behind his teammate.
In an impressive Finke debut Newcastle NSW Yamaha rider Josh Green took the final podium spot on his Yamaha YZF450 just 1min 39 secs behind Jacob Smith.
Four time Tatts Finke Desert Race winner Ben Grabham finished 11th overall on his KTM in what was his comeback ride after recovering from breaking his back in a race accident last year.
The Finke is the biggest weekend of the year in Alice Springs and is about much more than just a bunch of fast off-road racers blasting through the desert. It is about the atmosphere, the challenge and the camaraderie that makes this so attractive and so unique.
Along with the 365 bikes and 99 cars thousands flock to the race each June long weekend, 75 per cent from out of town making it a tourism boom for the Red Centre.
Race president Antony Yoffa, himself a former rider in the race, says the event is like Christmas for Alice Springs businesses and is a financial boon for the region.
"People come here because it’s fun and a challenge. It’s fun to camp out on the track and it is a challenge for the competitors who also have fun and enjoy themselves which is why they keep coming back year after year in greater numbers," he explained.
As the Finke heads to its 40th anniversary in two years time you might want to think about booking your accommodation now, because the Alice is likely to be even more packed to the rafters come June 2015.
See all the pics on the Finke Desert Race photo gallery
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Written byStuart Bowes
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