Image: Jamie Nicolaou.

KTM Desert Racing Team rider Ben Grabham was again at his sublime best as has won his third consecutive WA Forest Rally at Busselton and Nannup in the south-west region of Western Australia.

The Quit Forest Rally was the second round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, and one of the few off-road races on the Australian calendar to combine car and motorcycle classes.

The event tested both drivers and riders with its tricky combination of high speed forest fire trails, and slippery West Australian pea gravel corners.

The KTM 500 EXC rider excelled in the fast, slippery conditions and topped the time sheets of the Moto division on both days of the event, winning from Graeme McKinley (KTM), and Nathan Grech.

“The weekend went well for us, I had a pretty good run and picked up the win,” Grabham said. “It’s always tricky over here on the pea gravel and just getting used to the slipperiness of it.

“They were pretty long days this time round; yesterday would have been seven hours on the bike. It’s not the hardest riding ever, but you can’t switch off for a second as the pea gravel and high speeds are a bad combination, and you can end up coming unstuck pretty quick.

“The 500 EXE has been great, pretty much faultless in the tricky conditions because of the smooth power.”

With another trophy squeezed into the gear bag, Grabham will today fly to Alice Springs for some testing in preparation for this year’s Finke Desert race.

2014 Quit Forest Rally
Busselton and Nannup, WA

Moto classification:
1. Ben Grabham 80
2. Graeme McKinley 68
3. Nathan Grech 60
4. Brett Tribbick 52
5. Alan Makin 44