Motorex KTM Off-Road Racers are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation for the 2010 Finke Desert Race with team riders Ben Grabham, Brad Williscroft and new comers Toby Price and Chad Billett spending weeks testing in the area for the four day event.

Three-time consecutive winner of Finke, and reining number one rider, Ben Grabham is returning with his usual cool, calm persona, confident that he can defend his Finke victory.

“All my testing has been going well, I’m very familiar with Finke now, and really enjoy coming out here and having some fun pushing the KTM 505 SX-F through the challenging terrain,” Grabham said.

Current leader of the Australian Off-Road Championship, Toby Price has enjoyed his first year riding with KTM, and has so far dominated in all events he has entered, but Finke is new to him so he doesn’t know what to expect.

“I’ve been putting in some decent hours testing between Alice Springs and Finke trying to get a feel for the KTM 450 SX-F in desert style terrain,” he explained. “I’m so much more accustomed to enduro and short sprint racing, but I’m really enjoying the high speeds on the NT terrain, so I’m just looking forward to getting into it.”

Another new comer to the team for Finke only is 2009 third placed rider, Chad Billet who last year raced for Honda and this year will be swapping colours to ride the KTM 450 SX-F along with Price.

“This is my fourth time at Finke, and last year was my best result of third overall,” said Billet. “I don’t want to speculate any positioning as that could come across as being cocky, but I’m confident should everything run well on race day – KTM has a good chance to be on the podium as in previous years.”

2009 runner-up Brad Williscroft will wear two hats in Finke, as Motorex KTM Off-Road Racing Team Manager, and competitor, as he looks to support his fellow riders and back up his second place podium last year.

“The boys and I have been travelling up to Alice Springs and testing on the ride to Finke for the past few months to ensure we’re all well prepared for the sprint format ahead,” Williscroft commented. I’m confident we will succeed, but anything can happen in a desert race of this calibre, so it’s all about preparation and being ready for the challenging terrain ahead.

“I obviously have my own goal to get on the podium racing the KTM 505 SX-F, but at the same time this is a team entry, and I’ll provide whatever support that is required to help each of the Motorex KTM Off-Road Racing Team riders cross the line safely with a performance based result.”

2006 Finke Desert Race winner and twice runner-up Ryan Branford joins multiple Australian Off Road Champion AJ Roberts, 2009 Australasian Safari Winner Jacob Smith and American Steve Hengeveld this weekend to contest the country’s greatest off road, multi terrain two-day race.

Under the guidance of Desert Edge Racing’s Michael Vroom, the riders hope to regain the title that Honda has claimed multiple times since the event was founded in 1976.

“It doesn’t get any easier, that’s for sure,” Branford said. “There’s square edges, whoops, bulldust holes, the odd stray log – it’s alI thrown in.”

Seven-time Baja 1000 outright winner Hengeveld has competed twice at the Finke, once in 2006 on an XR650R and in 2007 on a CRF450R, and this year will round out his trilogy by racing in the highly competitive 250cc class on a DERT-prepped Honda CRF250R.

Multiple champion Roberts is also now in Alice Springs ready to have a go on his CRF450R after returning to form in the most recent round of the AORC.

Desert Edge’s Michael Vroom said his team of riders are confident and ready.

“We’ve had no injuries in the lead up to the race and, our bike prep and testing has gone really well these past months so the boys are more than ready,” Vroom commented.

The 35th annual Tattersall’s Finke Desert race will be held on 11-14 June 2010 in Alice Springs.