Alice Springs’ own David Walsh on fire on his KTM as he aims to join the greats of the Finke race

Defending champion David Walsh fires out a warning to his King of the Desert rivals with a barnstorming run down to Finke that left him almost four and a half minutes in front

David Walsh is poised to join the greats of the Finke Desert Race by grabbing back-to-back wins. Picture: Finke Desert Race

DEFENDING King of the Desert David Walsh is 226km away from claiming back-to-back titles after blitzing the bike field to Finke in stage 1 of the great race.

Walsh powered his KTM 500 through red dirt and bushland in 1 hour 45 minutes 34.9 seconds to move four and half minutes ahead of second-placed Jack Simpson.

The hometown hero, who won his first King of the Desert in 2019 after 11 years of trying, smashed his best time to Finke by 10 minutes in what looks like a lucky 13th attempt to tame Australia’s toughest off-road race.

He passed Simpson on the first corner after leaving the start-finish line and never looked back.

Walsh will join the past greats of Finke if he can maintain the pace and intensity that had race winner all over it after the first leg when he arrives in Alice Springs at around 2pm on Monday.

In his sixth Finke campaign, Beau Ralston is almost five minutes behind Walsh, with Rick Ireland finishing fourth fastest, setting a time of 1 hour 53 minutes and 31.3 seconds. Ireland, in only his second Finke campaign, raced into fourth position after day 1 from 11th on the start grid when the 584 bikes left Alice Springs.

Geelong’s young gun Callum Norton was one of four Victorians to finish in the top 10, coming in fifth fastest on his Husqvarna to confirm his rising star status.

Fellow Victorians and brothers Brodie and Nicholas Waters were sixth and seventh fastest to give themselves a chance of a podium finish.

2019 runner-up Jacob Smith is ninth and first timer Liam Walsh 10th as the riders prepare for an 11.45am start on Monday to race back to the Red Centre.