Norton and Long complete podium at the 2023 edition of the event.
HMG Motorsport Group KTM’s David Walsh claimed his fourth-straight victory at the Tatts Finke Desert Race, delivering yet another commanding performance to capture the win in the 2023 edition of the prestigious event.
Walsh set the pace in yesterday’s opening stage from Alice Springs to Finke, carrying an advantage of two and a half minutes ahead of Callum Norton (KTM) into today’s return leg.
While Walsh ranked third in today’s stage, it was enough to secure him the outright win ahead of return leg pace-setter Norton. The 500 EXC-F rider’s outright winning margin was 1m54s and his total time of 3h35m48.908s was marginally slower than his record-setting effort in 2022 of 3h35m45s.
Completing the outright podium behind Walsh and Norton was Ivan Long (Husqvarna), 3m7s from the victory. GasGas Enduro regular Korey McMahon was a solid fourth outright and top of 450 riders, while Mitchell Outram was top of the 251cc and above two-stroke entries in 30th outright.
Prologue pace-setter Jacob Smith completed the event in sixth position outright and fifth in class two, 451cc and above four-stroke, while Ben Grabham was the leading masters 35 to 44 years rider in a fine ninth outright.
Notably, Walsh’s win of the 2023 Tatts Finke Desert Race also doubled as his first-ever attempt at the Iron Man Double – competing in both Car and Bike categories.