Honda Places Seven Out Of Top Ten At Finke

Honda riders supported by Desert Edge Racing have finished seven out of the top ten in the 35thannual Finke Desert Race run over the Queen's Birthday weekend.

CRF450 mounted Ryan Branford took home the honours for quickest Honda with a third place overall behind Toby Price and Todd Smith.

2009 Australasian Safari Winner Jacob Smith was the next Honda across the line, followed by Jack Dooley-McDonnell who rode a 450cc machine in the event for the first time.

"Ryan had the fastest time on the home leg but it wasn't enough to pick up another position by the close of the day," Vroom said.

"Another one of our riders, Michael Walsh, was running strong but had an accident that took him out so we missed out on a crack at the top spot this year."

"We're pretty happy though about how strongly the Hondas finished, particularly considering there were plenty of factory supported riders competing this year."

Vroom himself finished 7th overall behind Caleb Auricht, and in front of Peter Costello and first time competitor AJ Roberts.

"The 250cc 4-stroke class was a big win for us," Vroom added.

"We took out the top three positions with Daymon Stokie who is a motocross rider, American Steve Hengeveld who had not pre-run the track at all, and local Paul Sabadin."

"What is great about this event is that we can support the big name riders as well as the locals. There really is a story behind every rider."

"This was our biggest effort to date and the workshop boys worked extremely hard. We had no mechanical issues with any of the Hondas which is really very impressive considering the conditions."

For full results, log onto www.finkedesertrace.com.au.

For info on Desert Edge Motorcycles, log onto www.desertedge.com.au