Yamaha Racing press release:

After finishing runner-up last year, Yamaha Racing’s Todd Smith has triumphed in challenging wet conditions to take victory at the Condo 750 in the New South Wales Lachlan region on the weekend.

Smith was the first bike out on the opening day of competition with the 24-year-old finishing inside the top four for the first six stages of the day.

The next day, Smith proved he was determined to be crowned the winner of the Condo 750 with the WR450F rider completing each stage inside the top two including the final leg of the navigational rally where he was fastest, beating home Shane Diener to win the day and take overall event honors.

For Smith who grew up in the Condobolin region the victory was the realisation of a childhood dream.

“The Condo 750 is a race I have always wanted to win and it has been high on my list of goals for a very long time.  After trying four times it is great that all the hard work has finally paid off with a victory,” Smith said.

“The opening day was very hard for me as I was the first bike out and had to lead the field.  With the event using new trails the tracks were not marked out well and it was pretty tough going out there.  It was raining extremely hard in the final stage and I missed a call and lost two positions but luckily I was able to crawl back up and make up the places.

“The final stage on Sunday was also a tough one with no tracks on the course and a re-route. I just knew I had to beat Shane [Diener] and I rode my best stage of the weekend.

“The bike was amazing, the engine was re-built prior to the event, the suspension was also great – overall I had a great race package.”

Gary Williams from Wombat Motorcycles who helped put together the race winning package said Smith rode with great maturity in order to claim the win.

“Todd [Smith] performed well.  He was up against some of the best riders in Australia and he rode with his head and kept the bike together all weekend in order to take victory,” Williams said.

“Jake Young was the mechanic working on the bike and engine rebuild he completed was great.  The whole package was perfected from last year’s Safari and refined into what was a great bike throughout the whole event.”

Smith’s next event will be the Finke Desert Race which will take place on June 7 -8, 2009.