Smith Brothers Racing press release:

Smith Brothers Cairns Coconut Resort Honda Racing team has had a successful weekend at the 40th running of the 2015 Tatts Finke Desert race with Jacob Smith finishing fourth outright in one of the heaviest fields of competitors to date.

The 2015 Tatts Finke Desert race was labelled as one of the toughest courses yet; the gruelling 480-kilometer course saw 160 trophy trucks, cars and buggies tear through it prior to the 600 motorcycle competitors departing Alice Springs with the goal of making it to Finke and back as fast as possible in a two day adventure.

Jake Smith – “The Finke Desert race is simply like no other, I’m truly honored to be a part of the 40th running of the event. My 5th position in Prologue gave me a good starting position for Sunday’s departure from Alice Springs, which I was happy with. Sunday didn’t go so well; I struggled with speed in the big whoops on the way down to Finke. We made some changes overnight for Monday and I felt much more at home. At the end of the 480-kilometer race I came across the finish line in 4th position outright and 2nd in class five. It’s a huge effort for the team at our debut Finke Desert race, I’m already looking forward to next year.”

Jake Haddrill – “It was a heartbreaking weekend for me. I felt like I was more prepared than ever and to go down on the opening day is a hard pill to swallow. I made a mistake in a high-speed section of the course, which saw me ejected from my motorcycle and damaging my neck. Scans saw no serious damage to my neck though which is a positive. I would love to congratulate the team and Jacob on an amazing result, everyone has worked extremely hard and I can’t them enough.”

The next race for the Smith Brothers Cairns Coconut Racing team will be the famous Hattah Desert race in Mildura, Victoria on the 3rd and 4th of July.