Desert Racing

Hattah Team Talk – Riders And Team Managers Talk About The Toughest Race of 2015

Posted:

Thursday, July 9th, 2015

8:25 AM

KTM OFF-ROAD RACING

KTM Enduro Racing Team riders Toby Price, Tye Simmonds and Daniel Sanders have dominated the top placings at this year's Hattah Desert Race near Mildura, finishing first, second and fourth respectively.

Price once again demonstrated why he is Australia's King of the Desert, showing complete mastery of the unique Hattah conditions aboard his KTM 500 EXC to win his fifth career Hattah race. The first rider away after setting the fastest time in Saturday's prologue, Price exploded out to an early lead before settling into a steady race-winning pace that yielded a 3 minute victory over similarly mounted Simmonds, with Josh Green third overall.

‰ÛÏAnother win today and I'm stoked." Price said. "It was a good run, after winning the Prologue yesterday we started off from the front and I think that definitely helped, the dust was thicker in the first part of the race before the track chewed and exposed a little bit of moisture in the sandy parts.

"In the first couple of laps I put on a really good charge and pulled a bit of a gap, and after that I settled into a comfortable pace in and felt really good. The whole team worked really well once again and gave us the equipment that we needed to get a 1-2, as well as a fourth place position and Louis in eighth.

"It‰Ûªs unreal. The whole crew did a really good job on our pitstops, Mick Carusi did a really good job prepping all our bikes and Grabbo has done an amazing job is always. The whole team, Mick and Trav and Blizzard, those guys have done in a real job.‰Û

Simmonds enjoyed a good day out on his way to second place.

Simmonds enjoyed a good day out on his way to second place.

‰ÛÏIt was a good day, I loved it back in the day when I did it so I kind of had big expectations and in the end we got there so I'm over the moon." Simmonds said. "It was so much fun; the first four laps before it started to get a little bit rough, I was having an absolute ball.

"Obviously there is a reason why Toby is the number one and he showed again today that he is the man to beat. We got a good start and yesterday we walked 8K of the track, so I was all over his wheels for the first 8 kays, but then we got to a new part of the track that I hadn't seen and he checked out.

"After that I had a lonely race; Toby was gone and I pulled a gap pretty quick on third, and I don't think it really got under a minute and a half. Mick, Trav and Grabbo, they set everything up perfect for us, we didn't even have to do much testing this week, I think we changed a few clickers and that was it.

"That was all we had to do. So that tells you how good our bikes are and how good we‰Ûªve got everything set up.‰Û

Sanders finished in a fine fourth place

Daniel Sanders gave away a mountain of top speed to the big-bore 4-strokes, but as the race went on and top speeds became less reachable Sanders capitalised more and more on the superior manoeuvrability and large, 19-litre KTM Power Parts fuel tank of his ‰Û÷little‰Ûª KTM 300 EXC -as well as some frenetic riding.

He took over fourth place at the start of the final lap and won the over 250 2-stroke class.

‰ÛÏI said I would be giving it a crack and I was swinging off it - I'm stoked with fourth-place." Sanders stated. "I struggled big-time on the first lap just because it was a flat track the whole way around. I just couldn't get my legs up the front so I was just hooning it off the back.

"But after the first lap I could just come in and drag the pegs in the corners, I was pretty much just standing up the whole way and giving it full gas. The 300 really liked that stuff and in the rough stuff it was really good, it could cut across lines and break a bit later and you would miss all the choppy stuff, you can be real choosy with the lines in the tight stuff because it was so manoeuvrable.

"The weight was a bit different with the extra 10 kg off the front to what you would usually run, but overall I probably saved 2 minutes with that big tank being on.

"The track wasn't as rough as I expected to be, but the straights were just really hard to get onto in the end. I was just flapping off it holding on, I caught fourth place at the start of the last lap but I didn't know how far behind me fifth place was, so I was pushing super hard. Grabbo was stoked with me.‰Û

Perth motocrosser Louis Calvin who finished third in last year's Hattah found the going somewhat tougher this year after prologuing 10th fastest on Saturday.

Perth motocrosser Louis Calvin who finished third in last year's Hattah found the going somewhat tougher this year after prologuing 10th fastest on Saturday. Calvin struggled in the dust during the early laps, leaving the track several times, and spent the rest of the race redressing the damage to eventually finish eighth.

‰ÛÏThe start really killed it for me, I was going off track a heap and getting stuck in the dust, it wasn't the way to start, I just made more work from myself. Aut I rode good, made some really good passes, caught up a lot of time so I'm pretty happy with that." Calvin explained.

"It was another tough race but I just need to keep at it and do more of them. I haven't been able to do much this year, just been so busy building my house and we had a baby six weeks ago ‰ÛÒ it‰Ûªs been flat out this year and the preparation has sort of suffered a bit, but it was still a decent effort I think, and it was awesome fun.‰Û

Josh Green has snared third place at the highly regarded and ultra-tough Hattah Desert race held over the weekend in regional Victoria

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‰Ûªs, 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‰Ûªs where he stayed until the completion of the race.

‰ÛÏThe mistake on the opening lap is what cost me a better result,‰Û

Beau Ralston notched up fifth place on his YZ450F after charging from 11th place on the opening lap.

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.

‰ÛÏThis 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,‰Û

Glenn Kearney finished 9th

Husqvarna's trio of mighty FE 501 machines made their presence felt at this year's Hattah Desert Race, with all three bagging top-10 finishes in the annual Mildura epic.

Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team riders Glenn Kearney and Lachy Stanford were seventh and ninth overall respectively, while another champion enduro racer, Jarrod Bewley, finished 10th in his return from semi-retirement, in one of only two race appearances he has scheduled for 2015.

‰ÛÏIt was a little different than we sort of prepared for and expected this year." Kearney said. "Probably a much easier Hattah than they have been. I think a combination of the way they prepped the track and the dry conditions, the track stayed fairly smooth ‰ÛÒ for Hattah ‰ÛÒ it tended to get square edged bumps more than sand whoops.

"It was quite a short, fast race really. Seventh and ninth was where Lachy and I prologued, but both of us dropped back at the beginning and then had to come back through.

"I'm reasonably happy with how I rode but I sort of lost too much in the first two laps when it was really dusty and the smoothness meant I had no ruts to turn off. Bewley finished 10th on a Husky too so that was pretty cool.

"Our bikes were flawless and didn't miss a beat the whole race. Even though it wasn't as rough as normal it's still a pretty hard race on the bikes. The fuel stops were exceptional too so a big thanks to Kevvy and Christian, and we have a helper in Dave and Lachy's Dad Dean helped us as well in the pits, and then we had the wives and girlfriends out on the pit boards, so it was a pretty good effort by everyone.‰Û

Stanford began the race out of ninth starting position after prologuing just inside the top 10

Competitors were tested with seven laps of the 38km course, and Kearney's ride to seventh outright gave him a podium finish in the high-profile, big bore 4-stroke class, where he finished third behind outright winner Toby Price and Tye Simmonds.

Stanford began the race out of ninth starting position after prologuing just inside the top 10, and struggled early on with dust and turning at high speed in the smooth track conditions before the ruts and berms began to form up.

‰ÛÏIt wasn't as hard as I expected it to be, so I had a bit of juice left in the tank afterwards, I wish we would have raced a bit longer or something!" Stanford said. "The first lap was really sketchy with dust, but once we got going one or two laps in it was good.

"I rode smooth and didn't make many mistakes, but I lost the front pack on the first lap which was a shame. The track was amazing, the bike was amazing - it was so much fun being on the 501 and I really enjoyed my ride. I'd also like to say a huge thanks to the Husky off-road team for their awesome effort with fuel stops.‰Û

aturday's Prologue went extremely well for Jacob as he finished 3rd, just 1.2 seconds behind defending Hattah crown holder Toby Price.

After a successful running at the 2015 Finke Desert Race, Smith Brothers, Cairns Coconut Resort Honda Racing team set sail for the 2015 Hattah Desert Race, which was held near Mildura, Victoria

The week leading up to the Hattah Desert Race sore Jacob Smith and the team testing a number of new bike settings and getting the feel for another challenging genre of tighter desert racing at a number of local private tracks.

A controversial hand crafted additional fuel tank was added to Jacob's Honda CRF450R which would allow Jacob to race two laps without stopping for fuel which all elite riders do, due to the longer laps. Previously both Todd and Jacob Smith have struck fuel issues which have left them with DNF results.

Saturday's Prologue went extremely well for Jacob as he finished 3rd, just 1.2 seconds behind defending Hattah crown holder Toby Price.

Sunday sore Jacob start the 2015 Hattah Desert Race with a flying start putting away consistent laps, keeping him right up front and in the hunt for a podium finish. At the two hour mark disaster struck for Jacob, a malfunction with the transferring of fuel resulted in the motorcycle running out of fuel just a few kilometres short of the fuel stop resulting in a DNF.

"I was really happy with the week leading into the Hattah Desert Race, my Honda CRF450R felt great, I was feeling healthy and ready to give it 100%." Jake Smith said. "We heard a lot of the top teams and riders were going to be completing two laps during the race so we covered some bases to make sure we had enough fuel to complete two laps also.

"The first two laps of the race went to plan, I did make a few small mistakes with the conditions a lot dustier than I expected. Lap three I was running a comfortable pace in third position before two competitors passed me which moved me into fifth position, I was happy with how the race was panning out and my speed was great before we struck the fuel issue.

"It was extremely disappointing and quite embarrassing to be honest; we put a lot of effort into the preparation for both the motorcycle and I. It has been a real learning curve for me and the team this year but I believe we have shown what we are capable of doing." MOTUL / PIRELLI SHERCO RACE TEAM

Justin Carafa placed second in the 251cc and over two-stroke class aboard the Sherco 300SE-R

The Motul Pirelli Sherco Enduro Team has come away from the 2015 Hattah Desert Race with its best-ever result after Justin Carafa placed second in the 251cc and over two-stroke class aboard the Sherco 300SE-R.

Carafa began the multi-lap race in tough company and despite some trying conditions, pushed through with some smart riding.

‰ÛÏI started in 18th position outright and the first lap was super tough,‰Û