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Country	Northern Territory, Australia
Inaugural event	1976
Official Website	finkedesertrace.com.au

The Finke Desert Race is an off-road, multi-terrain two-day race for motorbikes, cars, buggies and quad bikes through desert country from Alice Springs to the small and remote community of Aputula (called Finke until the 1980s) in Australia's Northern Territory. The race is usually held each year on the King's Birthday long weekend in June. "Finke", as it is commonly known, is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory.^[1]

Track

Encompassing about 229km each way, the Finke Desert Race travels through many properties on its way to end up crossing the Finke River just north of Aputula. The track is divided into five sections:

Start/Finish Line to Deep Well (61 km)
Deep Well to Rodinga (31 km)
Rodinga to Bundooma (43 km)
Bundooma to Mount Squires (45 km)
Mount Squires to Finke (49 km)

History

The race started in 1976 as a "there and back" challenge for a group of local motorbike riders to race from Alice Springs Inland Dragway to the Finke River and return. After the success of this initial ride, the Finke Desert Race has been held annually on the King's Birthday long weekend ever since. The race is run along sections of the Central Australia Railway along a winding corrugated track, which goes through the outback terrain of red dirt, sand, spinifex, mulga and desert oaks. Even though the railway line was realigned and rebuilt in the early 1980s, with the old tracks being pulled up, the race continues along its original course.

While originally the Finke was only a bike race, its increasing popularity saw the introduction of cars and off-road buggies in 1988. A rivalry developed between the two and four wheelers, as the buggies were keen to claim the "King of the Desert" title. For eleven consecutive years the bikes were too quick for the cars despite the gap constantly narrowing. Finally in 1999, a buggy returned home first to claim the honour, with the bikes winning back the title in 2000 and 2001. From 2002 until 2004 the buggies held onto the "King of the Desert" title. In 2005 the title was changed to see two "Kings of the Desert", one for the cars and one for bikes, each picking up $10,000 for their effort. The last bike to beat the cars time was Michael Vroom in 2001 on his Honda CR500.^{[citation needed]}

COVID-19 impact

The 2020 race was cancelled for the first time in the event's history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This cost the economy of Alice Springs about $8 million.^[2] In 2021 about 200 Victorian competitors, plus race officials, were unable to attend when the Northern Territory classed all of Victoria as a hot spot after the state entered its fourth lockdown.^[3]

2021 fatal crash

During the 2021 race, a vehicle struck spectators just 35 kilometres short of the finish line. One person was killed and two others, including the driver, were hospitalised. The remainder of the event was subsequently cancelled, meaning the bike race was not completed.^[4] The buggy category had already been won earlier that morning. The winning racer, Toby Price, had previously won in the bike category six times, and therefore became the first person to have won in both the bike and buggy categories.^[5]

Media coverage

A 2018 television documentary Desert Daredevils: The Finke Desert Race^[6] and Finke: There and Back described the experiences of some racers.^[7]

Highlights are available to watch on 7plus.^[8]

List of winners

^[9]^[10]


Year	Bikes winner	Vehicle	State	Run time	Cars winner	Vehicle	State	Run time
1976	Geoff Curtis	Yamaha 250	Northern Territory		Not held
1977	Phil Stoker	Suzuki 370	Northern Territory
1978	Geoff Curtis	Yamaha XT500	Northern Territory
1979	Peter Stayt	Yamaha XT500	Northern Territory
1980	Geoff Curtis	Yamaha 400	Northern Territory
1981	Phil Lovett	KTM 390	New South Wales
1982	Phil Lovett	KTM 495	New South Wales
1983	Stephen Gall	Yamaha 490	New South Wales
1984	Peter Stayt	Yamaha 490	Northern Territory
1985	Phil Lovett	KTM 495	New South Wales
1986	Stephen Gall	Yamaha XT500	New South Wales
1987	David Armstrong	Kawasaki KX500	Queensland
1988	Alan Roe	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		John Fidler/Peter Lewis	Corvette	Northern Territory
1989	Mark Winter	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Gary Nicolle/Jo Reed	Buggy	Northern Territory
1990	Mark Winter	KTM 540	Northern Territory		Gary Nicolle/Neil Shegog	Buggy	Northern Territory
1991	Randall Gregory	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Keith Poole/Peter Walker	Buggy	South Australia
1992	Randall Gregory	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Greg Schlein/David Fellows	Buggy	Northern Territory
1993	Randall Gregory	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Steven Graydon/Tony Graydon	Buggy	Western Australia
1994	Randall Gregory	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Keith Poole/Peter Walker	Buggy	South Australia
1995	Randall Gregory	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Bob Mowbray/Janette Mowbray	Buggy	New South Wales
1996	Dan Ashcraft	Honda CR500	United States		Keith Poole/Peter Walker	Scorpion VW Buggy	South Australia
1997	Stephen Greenfield	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Paul Simpson	Jimco Buggy	Victoria
1998	Stephen Greenfield	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Mark Burrows/Michael Shannon	Cougar Buggy	Victoria
1999	Rick Hall	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Mark Burrows/Michael Shannon	Cougar Buggy	Victoria
2000	Stephen Greenfield	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Mark Burrows/Michael Shannon	2200cc Turbo Buggy	Victoria
2001	Michael Vroom	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		David Fellows/Tony Pinto	Southern Cross 2500cc Buggy	Northern Territory
2002	Rick Hall	Honda CR500	Northern Territory		Mark Burrows/Michael Shannon	Jimco 2000cc Buggy	Victoria
2003	Darren Griffiths	KTM 540	Western Australia		Mark Burrows/Colin Hodge	Jimco 2200cc Turbo Buggy	Victoria
2004	Stephen Greenfield	Honda CRF450R	Northern Territory		David Fellows/Tony Pinto	Jimco 2200cc Buggy	Northern Territory
2005	Jason Hill	Honda CRF450R	Northern Territory		Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Chenowth 2000cc Buggy	Victoria
2006	Ryan Branford	Honda CRF450R	Northern Territory		Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Chenowth 2000cc Buggy	Victoria
2007	Ben Grabham	Honda CRF450R	New South Wales		Hayden Bentley/Ben Chivell	Jimco Buggy	South Australia
2008	Ben Grabham	Honda CRF450R	New South Wales	04:04:43	David Fellows/Andrew Kittle/Jason Adami	Jimco 2000 Series Buggy	South Australia
2009	Ben Grabham	KTM 505 XC-F	New South Wales	04:01:26	David Fellows/Andrew Kittle	Jimco 2000 Series Buggy	South Australia
2010	Toby Price	KTM 450 SX-F	New South Wales	04:03:25	David Fellows/Mark Bergamin	Jimco 2000 Series Buggy	South Australia
2011	Ben Grabham	KTM 450 SX-F	New South Wales	03:58:59	Greg Gartner/Jamie Jennings	Ford F150	South Australia
2012	Toby Price	KTM 450 SX-F	New South Wales	03:57:03	Brad Gallard/Rick Geiser/Scott Modistach	Trophy Truck	South Australia
2013	Todd Smith	Honda CRF450R	New South Wales	04:02:08	Hayden Bentley	Racer Buggy	South Australia
2014	Toby Price	KTM 500 EXC	New South Wales	03:56:29	Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Jimco Buggy	Victoria
2015	Toby Price	KTM 500 EXC	New South Wales	03:52:54	Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Jimco Buggy	Victoria
2016	Toby Price	KTM 500 EXC	New South Wales	03:46:55	Glenn Owen/Mathew Ryan	Jimco Buggy	Victoria
2017	Daymon Stokie	Yamaha WR500F	Northern Territory	04:11:12	Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Jimco Buggy	Victoria
2018^[11]	Toby Price	KTM 500 EXC-F	Queensland	03:55:25	Shannon Rentsch/Ian Rentsch	Jimco Aussie Special	Victoria
2019^[12]	David Walsh	KTM 500 EXC-F	Northern Territory	03:56:01	Jack Rhodes/David Pulino	Jimco Aussie Special	South Australia
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021^[13]	David Walsh	KTM 500 EXC-F	Northern Territory	01:45:34^[a]	Toby Price/Joseph Weining/Mark Dutton	Trophy Truck	Queensland
2022^[14]	David Walsh	KTM 500 EXC-F	Northern Territory	03:35:45	Toby Price/Jason Duncan	TSCO Trophy Truck	Queensland
2023^[15]^[16]	David Walsh	KTM 500 EXC-F	Northern Territory	03:35:48	Toby Price/Jason Duncan	TSCO Trophy Truck	Queensland	03:21:46
2024^[17]	David Walsh	KTM 500 EXC-F	Northern Territory	03:38:12	Beau Robinson/Shane Hutt	Mason Gen 2 Spec TT	Western Australia	03:28:44