It was a mad dash across a beach alongside the Indian Ocean that set the scene for September 29’s finale of the eight-day Australasian Safari. All riders taking part in the race were winners regardless of where they finished, as the race was gruelling and took place over 3500 kilometres of some of the harshest terrain, including beaches, sand dune, creeks, riverbeds, and cattle stations – a tough course for even the most dexterous of race quad drivers.
Jake Smith won the moto division of the race on his Honda quad bike with 31 minutes to go, while his brother Paul won the quad class on the Honda TRX700XX. Paul has taken part in the race ever since the introduction of quad bikes five years ago. He had won the race in 2010 and was very pleased to win again, having failed to finish last year after sustaining an injury. He said that the part he enjoyed most in the race was the Gascoyne region, which he described as “awesome”, and he is now looking forward to Dakar.
Brother Jake has not had the best season ever after suffering from poor form, so he had a great deal to prove to others and himself in the Australasian Safari. Luckily, everything went his way, he had no issues and his bike behaved perfectly throughout the race.
In second place came Warren Strange, 47, who rode his Honda CRF 450X and finished one hour and 39 minutes in front of the closest rival.