Image: Fourohfour.

Just three weeks after a spectacular debut podium finish in the KTM Hattah Desert Race, Western Australian motocross ace Louis Calvin has again been asked to fill in for injured team boss Ben Grabham at this weekend’s second round of the Desert Tri-Series, the Doorawarra 500, near Carnarvon in WA.

The three-day event, approximately 900 kilometres north of Perth, sees a 10-kilometre Prologue on the Friday followed by around 500 kilometres of racing across Saturday and Sunday, incorporating everything from wide-open desert expanses and sand dunes to slower more technical terrain such as hills and riverbed.

“I’m happy with how I went at Hattah and the outcome we got there and I was stoked to get the call again,” Calvin said. “I’ve been told it’s in between Hedland and Carnarvon, but I don’t know a lot more, other than that it’s fairly fast with all kinds of different terrains.

“I don’t know what to expect, so it should be fun and exciting. I’ve been doing a little bit more of this kind of riding lately in the bush, and having fun with it.”

Grabham’s persistent hand injury continues to make hard riding for any length of time impossible, and the highly-decorated off-road racing ace is now forced to seek surgical assistance over the coming weeks.

“Carnarvon was probably the pick of the tracks with the sand, some nice high-speed fast desert and dunes out the back,” Grabham explained. “It’s rained quite a bit in Perth, so hopefully up the coast they’ve gotten the same and it will make Prologue not so important.

“I’m still on the bench. I’ve tried riding a little bit with my hand, but I can only ride decent for 20 minutes and then I can’t hang on. I’m booked in next Thursday to see the surgeons. Toby’s coming off a lot of big wins and Ivan who’s got a string of results going, as well as Louis, which is sort of fitting in that he had a good result at Hattah and he’s from WA.”

Calvin will join team regulars Ivan Long, who was second in the tri-series opener last month, and Finke and Hattah Desert Race winner Toby Price, who leads the series after winner the opening round at Newman.