KTM rider Tye Simmonds is a Hattah Desert Race winner after finishing 12 seconds ahead of teammate and Victorian Daniel Sanders yesterday. Simmonds completed the eight laps with a time of four hours, six minutes and 28 seconds.
TYE Simmonds survived a four-hour duel with teammate Daniel Sanders to win the 2016 Hattah Desert Race.
Simmonds, who finished second at his first Hattah race last year, went one better with a time of 4:06:28.673.
The KTM rider started in second and quickly made a move on Sanders, but the lead changes between the two continued throughout the race.
Sanders was only seconds behind when it was all said and done, finishing with a time of 4:06:41.133.
Simmonds said it wasn’t an easy race with Sanders keeping pace the entire time.
“I made a move really quickly on him in the first two or three kilometres, but I just couldn’t shake him,” Simmonds said. “We traded first about eight times – we definitely had a good battle.”
He said conditions also presented a challenge, with a drier track compared to last year’s race.
“It was definitely a lot tougher this year with the track being a bit rougher,” he said.
Yamaha rider Beau Ralston rounded out the podium coming in third, while Husqvarna and Honda were represented in fourth and fifth respectively with Glenn Kearney and Peter Boyle.
Ouyen rider Nathan Trigg was in third position after Saturday’s prologue, but had bike difficulties yesterday, which brought him back to an 11th place overall finish with a time of 4:39:22.182.
Mildura’s Josh Murtagh won the 250 2S Class after completing seven laps with a time of 4:06:30.447, 18 minutes ahead of Cardross rider Cody Ryan in second.
As for the overall winner, Simmonds said there would be a lot of fun had by the team last night before a relaxing couple of days with family in Mildura.
The win was still sinking in yesterday afternoon, but Simmonds wants to come back next year to defend his new title.
“To finish second last year and to win this year, it was just really great and I definitely want to try to keep first place, definitely,” he said
Story Credit: Sunraysia Daily