Both Grabham and Fish are excited to hit the course in Western Australia this weekend.

HSE Motorex KTM Off-Road Team’s Ben Grabham and Matt Fish are preparing to take on the all-new WA Desert Tri-Series kicking off this weekend.

Taking place at Doorawarra, near Carnarvon in Western Australia’s upper Gascoyne Region, the three-round series will run over a two-month period with two established events in the Pilbara region being joined by the fresh Doorawarra Station opener.

The format for each round will see three days of desert racing action with a 10 kilometre prologue on the Friday followed by a 500 kilometre event stretched over two days.

Looking to continue his impressive comeback year following a serious injury in 2012, former Gascoyne Dash winner Ben Grabham looks forward to returning to the Gascoyne Region.

“I’ve raced in this area before when I won the Gascoyne Dash in 2011 and I’m looking forward to getting back out there,” said Grabham. “I’m expecting a high speed race but it’s a little unknown – definitely high speeds compared to what I’m used to back home in NSW.

“I’m riding the 500EXC which is great. I won the Forest Rally and a few other bits and pieces on one last year before my accident and I’ll be riding this one for Hattah and the A4DE.

“Out of the crate the EXC is just a bike that is very capable in all terrain and for any application – mine’s got a steering damper and an Akrapovic muffler and that’s about it, I’m ready to race. That’s why I enjoy riding it so much. That and the fact it’s got a lot of power.”

Grabham was beaten by his teammate Fish at the recent Tatts Finke Desert Race and hopes to one-up his stablemate this weekend.

“Fish man cleaned me up at Finke but hopefully it’ll be me and him battling out front this weekend. It’s always the same story in the desert though, ‘til race day you don’t know who’s doing what.”

Fish is also excited to be there for the start of the bold new desert racing series, which he predicts will only gain momentum as the series continues.

“I spent yesterday testing and getting the bikes ready and I’m super excited for the weekend,” Fish said. “It’s a fairly exciting series that’s definitely going to grow in terms of the number events and the recognition it will get. The promoters are really pushing hard and there’s TV, it’s definitely the series to do in Oz.

“I’ve made some progress with the bike and I’m confident that Ben and I will go well. Finke probably motivated me with training but come race day it will be a new race on a great bike, just need to get the results now.”

Fish will ride the KTM 450SX-F throughout the series and will be slightly altering his Finke setup to deal with the more technical aspects of the course.

“The 450SX-F is great for the terrain which should have huge variety compared to Finke with lots of vast and wide open ground but also some tight stuff and creeks so our setup will be slightly different to deal with that,” he added.

“I’ll be travelling up with Ben and even though we’re in different classes we both want to win. Still, if we put KTM 1-2 it won’t matter who’s on top, that will be perfect in everyone’s eyes.”

The second and third rounds of the series will take place at Indee Station, Port Hedland on July 12-14 and Kumarina Station, Newman WA on August 9-11.