Polaris Racing's Luke Beechey Wins Finke ATV Desert Race Again

Luke Beechey put on another dominating performance at the famous Finke Desert race walking away with a 1st place overall

Finke, Australia (6/16/2010) - Polaris Racing’s Luke Beechey has defended his title at the 2010 Finke Desert Race, Australia’s most prestigious enduro. Beechey crossed the line in 5:32:56 on his Polaris Outlaw 525 IRS, joined on the podium this year by fellow Outlaw, Michael Roycroft.

Beechey reached Finke in second position and Michael Roycroft close behind in third. On Monday’s return run towards Alice Springs, Beechey stormed home to greet the chequered flag over a minute faster than his nearest rival. When asked what made the difference, Beechey said "Out there it’s about power and suspension. The KTM engine was bulletproof and with IRS the whole rear end won’t bounce whenever one wheel hits a bump.” “I wouldn’t do Finke on a quad without IRS. Everyone knows that IRS soaks up the jump landings, but what they forget is that you also do not get thrown from side to side like you can on a straight axle quad. When you’re hitting the desert at 120kmph, nothing rides like a Polaris.”

Polaris’ Beechey says: “This year was a lot dustier than ’09. There were sections, especially the first 20kms from Finke, where you could only see a few feet.” “At one point, Roycroft passed me. Then I fired up to get past him, it wasn’t easy as we were both on Outlaw 525 IRS.” “A bunch of us riding Outlaws shared the same pit area and crew. I’m not aware of anyone on an Outlaw that had a mechanical hiccup on either day.”'

Polaris Managing Director, Peter Alexander said, “Its great to see Luke and the Outlaws proving themselves out there again. To Polaris Australia, Finke is the holy grail.”