Finke bikes favourite takes command

David Walsh has given himself a big chance of going back-to-back in the Tatts Finke Desert race with an especially quick ride to Aputula.

The Alice Springs local made it to the remote overnight stop in a time of 1:45:34.9s, just shy of 10 minutes faster than he had gone when the event was last run two years ago.

Walsh left the start/finish line in the Alice alongside prologue winner Jack Simpson, whom he overtook at the first corner and then disappeared from.

Simpson gave up 4:23.7s to the 2019 King of the Desert on the 226km outbound leg, while Beau Ralston is just 33.3s further back in third position.

Rick Ireland is almost eight minutes off the pace in fourth position, ahead of Callum Norton, Brodie Waters, Nicholas Waters, Kyle Pfitzner, Jacob Smith, and Liam Walsh.

The more than 500 riders are set to begin their return to Alice Springs tomorrow from 11:45 local time/12:15 AEST, with the first bikes expected in at around 14:05 local time/14:35 AEST.

Earlier, Toby Price ensured that he remains in the box seat for the cars title.

Results: Prologue Top 10

Pos	Class	Num	Competitor	Bike	Time	Gap to leader	Int
1	2	1	WALSH, DAVID	KTM 500 EXC	01:45:34.9
2	2	4	SIMPSON, JACK	HUSQVARNA FE 501	01:49:58.6	+ 00:04:23.7	+ 00:04:23.7
3	2	3	RALSTON, BEAU	KTM 500 EXC-F	01:50:31.9	+ 00:04:57.0	+ 00:00:33.3
4	2	292	IRELAND, RICK	KTM 500 EXC	01:53:31.3	+ 00:07:56.4	+ 00:02:59.4
5	2	5	NORTON, CALLUM	HUSQVARNA FE 501	01:53:45.3	+ 00:08:10.4	+ 00:00:14.0
6	2	15	WATERS, BRODIE	KTM 500 EXC-F	01:54:15.6	+ 00:08:40.7	+ 00:00:30.3
7	2	10	WATERS, NICHOLAS	KTM 500 EXC-F	01:54:38.7	+ 00:09:03.8	+ 00:00:23.1
8	2	13	PFITZNER, KYLE	KTM 500 EXC-F	01:54:47.5	+ 00:09:12.6	+ 00:00:08.8
9	2	2	SMITH, JACOB	HUSQVARNA FE 501	01:54:49.9	+ 00:09:15.0	+ 00:00:02.4
10	5	X99	WALSH, LIAM	KTM 450 SX-F	01:55:53.6	+ 00:10:18.7	+ 00:01:03.7