Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Josh Green has snared third place at the highly regarded and ultra-tough Hattah Desert race held over the weekend in regional Victoria. The grueling event that sees competitors race at wide open speeds through the surrounding desert sands of Hattah for just over three hours is a true test of man and machine with the Active8 Yamalube Yamaha team again posting good results.

Josh Green and Beau Ralston, both mounted on Yamaha YZ450F’s, finished the event in third and fifth place Outright respectively in a solid days work for the team. It was also a 1-2 result for the 450cc class honours.

Green completed the pre-event Prologue on fourth place and was looking forward to a good event. Unfortunately he hit problems right away in the race proper when he ran off the track and struck a tree causing him to lose front brakes on the opening lap. A quick pit-stop after lap one saw the team get the brakes back in action although he lost several vital minutes and dropped back to fifth place. He quickly got back into the race and began to make up for the lost time. He moved into fourth and then into third and that’s where he stayed until the completion of the race.

“The mistake on the opening lap is what cost me a better result,” Green states. “I felt I could have ran the leaders pace and my fitness is good but when you lose so much time on the first lap to a rider like Toby, you don’t often get the chance to make it back up.

“Still, it’s nice to be up on the podium and I really enjoy racing here at Hattah. It’s a great event and a real challenge for us riders,” Green ends.

Beau Ralston notched up fifth place on his YZ450F after charging from 11th place on the opening lap. Ralston had to deal with riders and dust throughout the event but continued to push his way forward and he improved his position on nearly every lap.

“This weekend I learnt the importance of the Prologue and ensuring you get a good result there as you need to be up the front from the start to get away from the dust,” Ralston explains. “When you are that far back, the first lap is a matter of just making it around safely and letting the race settle down as there are riders going everywhere and the dust makes it hard to go at full race pace.

“Once that happened I felt pretty good and was able to keep moving forward until I got to fifth and the front four were out of reach. Fifth is ok, but obviously I will be working hard for a better result next year,” Ralston said.

The annual Hattah event is a highlight in the off road calendar and while not part of any major championship, it is still a very significant event for the off road fraternity and a highly sort after prize.