For the first time since 2010, buggies have claimed honours at the Finke Desert Race after Hayden Bentley steered his Cadillac V6-powered Pro Buggy to victory in a scorching 1:52:49, more than a minute ahead of his nearest competitor.
Beau Robinson’s front-running Trophy Truck started well but rolled about 20 kilometres from Finke. Faced with another 200 kilometres to go to complete the race, Robinson pulled out a gutsy effort, nursing his battered Geiser Bros Truck across the line – more than three hours after he set off for Alice Springs.
In his stead, Billy Geddes came out of the corner swinging, making up two places to finish sixth outright and second in class behind the Geiser Bros truck of Geoff and Liz Roe. Geddes had a big moment at the infamous ’40km’ dune, coming within a heartbeat of spectacularly rolling his Truck but managed to keep it upright through what he said was a lot of luck and a little skill. The margin between first and second in the Trophy Truck class was just 10 seconds, even after more than 450 kilometres of flat-out desert racing.
When the dust settled, the first three across the line were all from the Pro Buggy class, much to the surprise of race fans who had expected a Trophy Truck trifecta due to their straight-line speed and toughness.
In his 14th Finke, Bruce Garland took home third in class despite a huge tank-slapper 20 kilometres into the return journey. He said it was an achievement just to get to Finke, let alone taking a battered car along 450 kilometres of track at race pace.
Just 53 of the original 99 car, truck and buggy entrants managed the return journey, with 28 competitors falling victim to Finke’s merciless punishment on the first day and 18 on the second. Among their number was Gerald Reid, who was unable to convince his buggy to hold together for back-to-back podium finishes.
So that rounds off another chapter in Finke’s 38-year history. The buggies have returned with an unexpected vengeance and stoked the fires for next year’s event. And we can’t wait…
