The Dead Center 3 days of the Finke Desert Race.

Feb 1, 2012
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Theres a song and for the life of me i can not remember the name of it but the chorus is WHERE THE F..K is ALICE .. Well Alice Springs is in the center of Australia some call it the Dead Center others the Red Center but to most that have lived and worked out here it's just known as The Alice.
After 12 years i have returned to The Alice for a job that was to good to knock back and there is not much that i missed about The Alice but for one thing The Finke Desert Race and as luck would have it i was returning at the right time.
The Finke is run on the long Queens Birthday weekend every year its cold -1 C in the mornings this time of year and more often than not very dusty and some years very wet, hell or high water its run.
Friday night is Scrutineering of bikes and gear you ware and for the buggys as well its cold lots of food and beer and even a live band playing a good night out sad to say i was snapping photos with my old camera all night to find out later it not working and only the first few photos worked so i have had to
borrow from others and for that mater better anyway.

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Saturday is Prologue day a short track of 8 km the top 10 bikes from the year before run it one at a time the rest of nearly 500 bikes go out in 3's and then up to 6 bikes at a time and times are posted fastest bikes leave in order on the Sunday for the Finke community 226 km south of Alice more or less following the old telegraph line that was made in the 1800's.

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yes even a guy in a chicken suit.

After having a chilly night camping down at the Finke and doing any fixing that needs to be done to bikes and buggys and bodys Monday morning the they run the track back up to Alice Springs 452 km in total fastest time wins.

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Toby Price from Singleton in NSW riding a KTM 450 raced to the finish line for first place and a $10,000 cheque as the winner of the 2012 Tatts Finke Desert Race. He also won in 2010 but last year failed with mechanical failure. Toby done the 452km in a total time of 3 hours 57 minutes and 3 seconds average speed of 120 km from word go to stop.

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Seen this short vid on youtube gives you a good feeling of what its all about.

 
Sep 19, 2006
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www.chiangmai-xcentre.com
Great Stuff, thanks for Sharing it! Some Amazing Equipment in that Line up. Classics to Modern, must be a bit of everything represented? I bet there is a Good Party once it is completed!
 
Feb 1, 2012
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Yes Ian Presentation night was at the Lasseters Casino Convention Centre on the Monday night and a packed house.
There was so many nice bikes it sort of gave you a worm feeling to see them all in one place never know in a few years they all may be available in Thailand bit of a wish i know i am still trying to work out how to get my CR500 over :(
 

daewoo

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Dec 6, 2005
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Living Next Door to Alice - originally recorded by an Australian group, but made famous by English band, Smokie.
Second run at fame in Australia when Kevin Bloody Wilson recorded 'Living Next Door to Alan' - I can still recite the whole thing "when the smoke had cleared a voice said "Hey this place look alright, we'll tell the guvment it's a sacred site, dead f^ckin easy".
I love following the preparations and trip reports for The Finke, and for the couple of Aussies who make it to Dakar each year on ADVrider... I couldn't ride a dirt bike on the front lawn, but would love to build to a level to have a crack at something like that...

Great photos, and thanks for posting...

Cheers,
Darryl