Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Active8 Yamalube Yamaha’s Josh Green has finished third Outright and first in class at the annual Finke Desert race held over the Queens’ Birthday long weekend on his YZ450F.

The challenging two day event see competitors race the 240 kilometres from Alice Springs down to Finke on day one and return the following day. It is a hair raising race of speed as competitor reach insanely fast speeds across whooped out sand dunes and rough bush tracks.

Green started the event by finishing fourth, out of the 600 riders competing in this years’ race, in the prologue to determine the starting order for day one and was hoping to pick up the pace as competition got under way. He did exactly that and moved up the leader board to third place midway through day one and within sight of second place before a steer dampener issue slowed his progress and he had to reduce speed to race safely. He ended day one where he started in fifth place but confident without any issues he could improve his result.

Day two and Green was back into it and with the steering damper working well, Green was able to make up some time on his competitors and he finished in third for the return trip and his combined times gave him third Outright in the prestigious event as well as the class victory in the 251cc to 450cc category.

“Getting on the podium at this event is always pleasing,” Green states. “It is a tough event and so many things can go wrong, from crashing to machine damage to dealing with the dust. It is so easy to make mistakes out there.

“I felt pretty good on both days and I would like to have seen my result if not for the steering dampener not working right. But, everyone has problems in this race and you just have to deal with them as best you can.

“Thanks again to the Active8 Yamaha team for their support. It’s awesome to be part of something where everyone involved gives it there all. Hopefully, next year I can come back and win it for them,” Green ends.

Team mate, Beau Ralston finished a very respectable seventh place in just his second attempt at Finke. Last year, Ralston was fresh off a broken elbow and had next to no preparation for the event but this year with some experience and some testing under his belt, Ralston was able to finish well inside the top 10 and just behind some of the biggest names in desert racing.

“My goal was to finish inside the top 10 so it was good to get that done,” Ralston explains. “While I got to ride the track last year, with my injury, it wasn’t at full speed and racing at 100% here is a lot different to what I experienced last time.

“I had a pretty smooth run on both days. I changed a shock spring after day one as the track changes a lot when the cars and buggies are on it and it was the right change to make. “Now that I have been able to race it properly, I feel I will be better prepared to race it next year and give it a real shake,” Ralston said.

“It was a pretty good event for both riders,” said Active8 Yamaha manager, AJ Roberts. “Josh tried hard all weekend but without a steering dampener working properly it is difficult to race at top speed so to still get on the podium was a great effort. For Beau to finish in seventh is a good achievement. It’s not an easy race and it takes years to work out what it takes and plenty of track time to really feel comfortable out here with only 248 riders finishing out of the 600 starters proves that.”

Yamaha supported riders also excelled in grueling event and female racer Tayla Jones had tongues wagging all weekend. On her Yamaha YZ250FX, Jones raced to an astonishing second in the up to 250cc four stroke class, including men, which in turn gave her 27th place Outright. It was a huge effort form Jones and not lost on the locals who are continually talking about the girl that handed it to the men all weekend.

Australian Safari winner, Rodney Faggotter also pulled down second place in the 35-39 years Masters class on his Yamaha YZ450F. The Longreach local, Faggotter continues to defy his age and race well at an event suited to the young and carefree brigade. His 17th outright shows he is more than capable of mixing it with all levels of rider.

Yamaha 250 two stroke mounted racer, Nicholas Godde also claimed the win in his class after two days of racing. He took the win by 20 minutes over his nearest rival in an impressive performance on his YZ250.

“It was a great effort by all the Active8 Yamaha team our Yamaha supported riders this weekend at Finke. It is an important event in the off road calendar and a very sort after prize for all the riders. The Active8 team again performed well but like everyone else, we are stunned by the result of Tayla Jones. Congratulations to Tayla and her team as well as Josh, Beau and Rodney on a tremendous effort,” Howard ends.