After months of preparation, the final pre-runs, and finalising strategies, it all comes down to this.
The 50th annual Tatts Finke Desert Race is formally underway, with Friday’s traditional scrutineering heralding the start of track-side action at one of the red centre’s biggest drawcard events.
More than 650 bikes and 160 cars have registered for this year’s monumental Finke running, and there are no shortage of story lines emerging in the final days before Saturday’s Method Race Wheels prologue.
The biggest of those is Toby Price’s last-minute call-up into the SXS Championship. The former cars and bikes winner only flew into Alice Springs on Wednesday, and had planned to watch prologue before flying home to Bundaberg in Queensland.
However, a back injury to one of Price’s biggest supporters, long-time Comiskey Mining Services Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) campaigner Glenn Brinkman, has given the 38-year-old a sensational call-up into the field in his SXS Can-Am Maverick R.
“I got up [Wednesday] morning, had a sore back and went to try and do pre-run and it wasn’t up to scratch,” Brinkman explained.
“Toby has been wanting to do a run in the Can-Am for some time, so I’m happy to step aside now so he can have a fair crack at it. I’m disappointed for me but happy to put Toby in the seat.”
For Price, the opportunity marks a dream come true to return to the Finke field, where he has tasted big success on two wheels, as well as four, in the past.
“Any chance to get behind the steering wheel or handlebars, I’m all for it,” Price said.
“It’s very last minute but we’ll go out there and have some fun, and enjoy it.”
Price will have his work cut out in the competitive SXS Pro class, with Glen Ackroyd, Jeff McNiven, Lachlan Bailey, Logan Gill and Sam Commins all looking to seal their place in the history books, along with a host of others.
There’s a separate battle heating up in terms of outright honours, where reigning Finke winner Travis Robinson returns to the red centre alongside long-time navigator Paul Currie. The pair will resume battle with Travis’ brother Beau Robinson and Shane Hutt.
The sibling rivalry is set to climb to new heights after Beau took delivery of a new 4WD Mason Trophy Truck this year, meaning the pair will have equal machinery during the race.
The Extreme 4WD class is a stacked one this year, with former Finke winner Hayden Bentley also debuting a new truck, alongside his son Sam Bentley, ever-present Brent Smoothy and long-time entry Phil Lovett.
Elsewhere, the star-studded Finke field has Robbie Maddison contesting the Trophy Truck 2WD class with Jake Williams in a 2012 Geiser formerly owned by Beau Robinson.
The Pro Buggy class at Finke is again awash with strong contenders, with the likes of Dale Martin, Mark Burrows, Shannon Rentsch, Ryan Taylor and Kye Camilleri all eyeing off top prize.
Meanwhile, Supercars legend Craig Lowndes returns to Finke with navigator Dale Moscatt in a bid to win the competitive Production Class aboard their Chevrolet Silverado.
The Tatts Finke Desert Race marks Round two of the Comiskey Mining Services AORC, and in many respects it is the jewel in the crown for the series.
The action formally kicks off with the Saturday Method Race Wheels Prologue, which will dictate the starting order ahead of Sunday’s Race One, the circa 224km run from Alice Springs to the remote Indigenous community of Aputula, or Finke.
Race entrants will then stay the night at Aputula before resuming the 224km return journey to Alice Springs on Monday, where the Kings of the Desert will be crowned for both cars and bikes categories.
