Desert Racing

Class Win And 2nd Outright After Drama Filled Hattah For Josh Green

Posted:

Tuesday, July 8th, 2014

8:25 AM

Active8 Yamaha‰Ûªs Josh Green has finished second outright in the 2014 Hattah Desert race ran over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of July.

The four hour off road event, ran in the red sands of Hattah in western Victoria, saw Green locked in an intense battle with Toby price for outright honours. The pair qualified in the top two spots and the battle continued as racing got underway on Sunday.

Green clawed his way to the front in the early going and held a small margin over Price before he was slugged with a one minute penalty for going too fast in a caution area. The penalty bought the duo together again and the rivals went bar to bar until Green hit a stump and cartwheeled his bike down the track.

Slightly dazed after the fall, Green wasn‰Ûªt able to regain the same speed as before and was forced to settle for second place outright but he still managed to secure the win in the over 450 four stroke class.

‰ÛÏToby and I had a really good race going and I was enjoying battling with him." Green stated. "The conditions were perfect out there and my bike was going awesome so it was a shame that I crashed otherwise I felt that we would have banged bars all the way to the finish.

‰ÛÏThe one minute penalty was my fault and I had to cop it sweet. It‰Ûªs not often we get flags in off road and I didn‰Ûªt take the right action when it came out.

‰ÛÏBut, it was a good weekend and the Active8 team were right behind me and the YZ450F was perfect. I look forward to racing here again next year,‰Û

It was a tough weekend all round for Tom McCormack - Credit: Fourohfour

It was a tough weekend for team mate Tom McCormack. McCormack had a huge fall during qualifying and was able only manage 19th place for the start of the race on Sunday.

McCormack was in mood for mucking around on race day and instantly starting climbing through the field. By lap three, McCormack had moved into third place and was charging hard but his relentless climb came to a halt not long after.

His aggressive racing in the deep sand fried his clutch. With his clutch done, McCormack was unable to finish the event.

‰ÛÏIt was an ugly weekend all round for me." McCormack admitted. "The crash in qualifying had me well down the list and as a result, I had to ride really hard in the opening laps to try and get some clean air and good track position.

‰ÛÏThe clutch issue was my fault. I just swung off it when I should have just settled down and realised this is a four hour race, not a four minute one. But, I will be better for it next year and hopefully I can come back and redeem myself and get on the podium for the team,‰Û