MAKING it past the formidable David Walsh to win his first Finke Desert Race title would be a dream for Callum Norton.
The 23-year-old, who races for Mildura-based STE Racing, piloted his KTM to be outright runner-up behind the Territorian 12 months ago and says he wants to go one better this long weekend.
Walsh has won the past four installments of the iconic outback race which sees riders and car drivers tackle the two-day event from Alice Springs to the Finke community and back, navigating tough terrain along the way.
Norton, who hails form Lorne but has been adopted into the Sunraysia community, again looms as Walsh’s biggest challenger.
STE Racing, established by Jason Stewart and backed by KTM, made its desert racing debut last season and is looking to go bigger and better.
Norton and Jordan Stewart return to the racing seats while team head mechanic Scott Watts will turn the spanners again.
“It’s a KTM 500 but it’s a new shape this year – that was probably the only major change,” Norton said.
“As a team it’s all the same people.
“The team is awesome – ‘Stewy’ did a great job setting it all up.
“Last year was like a set-up year I guess, getting everyone involved, sponsors on board, just getting the team up and running.
“Into this year it’s probably even a bit better again.
“Everyone knows what’s going on now and what we need and what we might have missed on last year.”
Norton’s “clean ride” last year sees him don the number two plate heading into this weekend’s event.
The emerging star said Walsh was still the man to beat but anything could happen with the unpredictability of desert racing.
“‘Walshy’ is always on song and has won four in a row now so it will be tough to beat him, but we’ve put in a lot of time on the bike and we went up to Alice Springs earlier this time,” he said.
“It’s been almost six months worth of training realistically, a lot of time trying to give us the best shot of running with him.
“He’s obviously going to be the one to beat.
“Others will be around the mark too but he’s the man.
“If I can keep up with him, or best case scenario if we have a better day, great.
“If you get a good qualifying and set yourself up for the race and have a good day one, you never know what could happen.”
Saturday is the prologue for the Finke Desert Race, with the race itself running across Sunday and Monday.
