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Team MXN Can-Am
Conquers Australia's Toughest Off-Road Race
Australia’s toughest off-road race, The Finke
desert race has been run for another year.
With what seemed to be in excess of the
population of Alice Springs watching the entire
weekend of racing, MXN Can Am rider Michael
Roycroft was anxious to get his first taste of
the Northern Territory dust.
Prologue (race day 1)
Racing started on Saturday with the prologue
stage, which determined Sunday’s race
position. Over 50 ATV’s lined up for Class 9
action. With past Finke winners Paul Smith and
Rick Beer racing with the Can Am X Team, Mick
was given some great tips on how to finish
the race in one piece. Michael managed to
qualify 12 in the ATV class, which gave him a
reasonable position for Sunday’s first leg to
Finke, the prologue time did not count toward
the race time. On the Saturday night Michael
said he was pleased to start somewhere in the
top 100 overall for Sundays event against the
faster more nimble two wheelers.
Sunday (race day 2)
Sundays’ leg of 240km from Alice to Finke (Apratula),
was going to be tough, starting on the
line with 7 other two‐wheelers, it was a sprint
to the front to make sure he was not going to
get filled in with dust. The two fuel stops at
the 80km and 150km marks were Michaels
chance to catch a breather even though they only
lasted 15 seconds. Michael was gaining
positions all the way up to Finke passing Can
Ams Rick Beer along the way and a race favorite Cameron Wade to be in 6th position
overall by the end of the day, with a total time
of 2hrs 57min.
Michael said at the end of the day, “it was
relatively easy out there today, nothing I
didn’t
expect but I am feeling good and cannot wait to
race back to Alice. The bike is working well
and everything is going to plan”.
Monday (race day 3)
Mondays’ leg kicked off at 12pm with all
Quads and bikes leaving on the grid in 1 min
intervals based on yesterdays overall time.
Michael left in 6th place in the Quads and was
seeded on the Grid with 7th place Brett Clissold
and five other two wheelers. Dust and
Whoops were going to be a major problem today
with over 600 competitors on bikes and
Buggies chopping up the track on Sunday’s leg.
Michael was travelling well and managed to
pass 5th place James Creber 15km into the leg,
he also moved into 4th place when he passed
last year’s winner and X team member Paul Smith
on the whoops at the 130km mark. Little
did Michael know that this had actually moved
him into second spot as Team KTM rider
Chris Brenton and Team Polaris rider Aaron Ovens
who were running in first place and 2nd
place respectively after day one had both
suffered electrical problems with their
machines.
At the 140km mark, Michael was feeling good and
battling it out with Paul until the dust of
his X team member’s machine became too much for
him to handle. Paul had taken off and
Michael had to put his head down to chase him
down to the finish.
The rest of the race was long and drawn out
and at one point the “Km’s didn’t seem to
count down” Michael said after the race. After
finishing Michael thought he was in 5th place
overall, but after only seeing Luke Beechey and
Paul Smith on the line he was quickly told he
was in 3rd place overall.
Mick said after the race “ I am stocked to be
on the podium as this is my first Finke and I
could not have asked for anything better, all I
wanted was to finish in the top 10 but I will
take this result anyway. The bike worked
awesome, the X team gave me all the support I
needed this weekend to get here, with the fuel
stops, the transport and the bikes. I would
like to thank Mick Andrewartha, the 3 Tors club
for the fuel, my mechanic Thomas for
building such an insane bike and all my sponsors
for 2009.
BIKE/QUAD OVERALL RESULTS - CLASS 08/06/2009
6:57:09 PM
2009 TATTERSALL'S FINKE DESERT RACE
Class Num Competitor Day 1 Score Day 2 Score
Overall Rank
9 995 Beechey, Luke 2:48:04.20 2:45:05.00
5:33:09.20 1
9 999 Smith, Paul 2:53:15.30 2:55:12.00
5:48:27.30 2
9 901 Roycroft, Michael 2:57:31.50 2:54:19.00
5:51:50.50 3
9 927 Clissold, Brett 2:57:56.10 2:55:50.00
5:53:46.10 4
9 937 Wade, Cameron 3:03:44.40 2:51:12.00
5:54:56.40 5
9 954 Hall, Ben 2:58:02.80 2:58:50.00 5:56:52.80
6
Team MXN next race is this weekend at the
first round of the NSW club MX series at
Barleigh Ranch MX track.
Check out all the up to date news and race
results at
http://www.47industries.com/09roycroft.htm
Or contact them at
mxn@onthenet.com.au
Team MXN Can Am would like to thank the
following sponsors for there support for 2009.
MXN, Can Am, CRB
Metal designs, Hardiman ATV, Lonestar A‐Arms,
Fox racing shocks, Austraco, Motoworks Pipes,
ITP tyres, Fury
rims, Big M Edge milk, Quad squad, Flexx Bars,
Pro Grip Goggles, Acerbis, Mother Energy Drink,
Coolabah Tree
Café, 47 industries, Can Am Newcastle, Nestle
Peters Drumstick, Instalair, Tubby Signs and
Graphics, CRC
sprays and lubricants and Car Cube
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