HQVA press release:

Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team riders Glenn Kearney and Lachy Stanford featured prominently in the premier class of the weekend’s high-profile Hattah Desert race near Mildura – one of the toughest in recent years.

Team boss Kearney renewed acquaintances with Husqvarna’s FE 501, the bike he campaigned during last year’s AORC, and took a podium finish in the Premier Over-450 cc four stroke class – behind outright victors Tye Simmonds and Daniel Sanders – on his way to finishing fourth overall.

Currently holding second place outright in the AORC, Lachy Stanford found it wasn’t quite as easy to keep pace with the boss in the desert, finishing one spot behind Kearney in the big bores class (fourth), and two spots back on overall classification (sixth).

The famous crowned ‘H’ Brand was well represented in the top 10, with Victorian 18-year-old Lyndon Snodgrass and his Husqvarna TE 300 the only two-stroke combination to finish in the top Despite giving away a significant advantage in top speed compared to the big-bore four-strokes, Snodgrass not only won the Over-250cc two-stroke category, but finished ninth overall.

Husqvarna FE 450 racer Broc Grabham looked to be aimed at a top-10 result, until he ran into tyre trouble in the closing stages of the race and was forced to limp home in 18th.

The team’s youngest rising star Fraser Higlett had an eventful first encounter with the high-speed Hattah conditions, cartwheeling his bike at over 100kmh during Saturday’s prologue and sustaining bruising to his lungs which had him coughing blood that afternoon. Cleared to ride on Sunday he set about seeing what could be achieved from a modest 356th place starting position.

In what must surely have been one of the rides of the meeting, Higlett carved through the pack like he was carving Christmas dinner, and brought his FE350 home in 40th outright and fifth in the Under 19’s category.

Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team Manager Glenn Kearney (FE501): “I was a little bit off the pace that the KTM boys had up front, but I was fairly solid and I stayed off the ground all day so I’m happy. Triggy went out on the last lap too so that bumped me up to fourth, but it was a really hard day the way the track cut out with the moisture that was in it. It was good to get the third in the 500s. It’s obviously the main class with all the boys in there. The bike was awesome and Christian and Dave and Kevvie did a great job in the pits. The fuel stops were flawless, and we had Amy and Chrystal out on the track with radios and pitboards, so everyone was well informed, it was a good day. Lachy came through fairly strong and finished only eight seconds behind Boyley for fifth. Lyndon was excellent, really good. He’s a bit of sand specialist. Broc Grabham would have had a much better result than he did, but he rolled a tyre off the rim on the last lap and young Fraser had a bit of a rough start – a real high-speed off in prologue where he was lucky to come out of that relatively unscathed. He came from 356th or something through to 40th, so it was a steep learning curve. He did some riding with us during the week and we were trying to point him in the right direction about respecting the speed and how rough it gets, but young guys are pretty gung ho and it’s hard to tell them, so he sort of got bitten, but he’s learned pretty quickly I think. I was there once, I know how it goes. A big thank you to Andrew Adams and his family, they let the whole team base at their place for the week, use their workshop facilities and staff and made our lives a lot easier.”

Lachy Stanford (FE501): “It’s the same old Hattah, you get to the third lap and think it’s pretty easy because there aren’t many bumps, but then it goes downhill fast from there, and wears you out. I had one really big crash around third or fourth gear in the whoops, I think there was a tree root in the whoop, and it just spat me from side to side, and I had a big cartwheel in the sand. But I got going all right and that was my only drama. The FE501 is just insane in the desert, it’s just got that much power the way the boys have set it up, it’s just awesome fun to ride out here. I love passing people down the straights, just having more power than everyone else. Christian has been with us here all week doing testing and helping us out, so it’s been a good week down in Mildura. I saw Glenn at the start, after I passed a couple of people, but Jacob Smith was ahead of us, and Glenn got around him and took off. That was the last I saw of him! But good work to him, he’s a tough, fit little bugger! I got to have a bit of fun with Snodgrass as well, he is a really good sand rider and I was following him for a bit. He was riding really well.”

Lyndon Snodgrass (FE300): “I’m stoked on that, it was a good effort. I prologued 13th and just started passing a few people and got into about eighth or something and sat there for most of the race. One of the others came past me towards the end there, but it was good swinging off the 300, trying to catch the 450s and 500s. You’ve got to respect that they are on a faster bike. I really wanted to top-10 in the class here and that’s just what I have done. I was putting in 100% all day – I’m pretty tired now. The whole race was great for me though, just seeing my mates out there cheering me on, and just keeping my head down and chasing everyone. This was my seventh Hattah, so I’ve done a few.”

Fraser Higlett (FE350): “I’m pretty happy with today. I started 356th this morning and made my way up to 40th, so passing 300 or so riders was alright! My Saturday crash was pretty scary, I was doing about 110 kph, and I got kicked in the back by something. A couple of people said they hit it, but I went over the bars and the bike got flung into the air. I got straight back on but my killswitch and starter switch got all pushed in from the crash, so I had to rip the wiring out and hotwire it out there! I lost a bit of time doing that, but we got back. Then I was coughing up blood, I went to the hospital and they just said I’ve got bruised lungs from the impact, so I was all good to ride today. Next year I might take it a bit easier in prologue – I was going pretty flat out on the Saturday. I liked Hattah, it was heaps of fun. But at the end of got real rough, and my hands started peeling with the blisters, so that was pretty extreme. I’ll go back and do it next year, definitely.”

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