DANIEL Milner has joined the pantheon of greats after winning his third Hattah Desert Race title today.
While he still has a few to go to catch the likes of Warren Smart and Toby Price, the 29-year-old led almost from start to finish for the near 300km enduro to take overall honours ahead of KTM teammate Mason Semmens and regular top end finisher, Husqvarna’s Callum Norton.
Lachlan Terry repeated his 2019 performance by finishing fourth, while local North West Victorian Motorcycle Club (NWVMCC) rider Liam Mason rounded out the top five after starting in 10th.
There were class wins for other local riders, with Sam Pretscherer taking out the Under 19 honours, and Harrison Wooding coming out on top in the Up to 250cc two-stroke class.
Milner, who manages Type 1 Diabetes while racing, previously won the iconic event in 2017 and 2019, when wet conditions prevented the race from going the full distance.
The KTM teammates took turns being in the lead early in the race, but it was the more experienced winner who held sway from the third of the eight laps.
Due to COVID restrictions Milner was forced to race without his KTM team present at the event.
“It’s been a bit of a hard road getting ready for this race,” said via the Hattah Desert Race Facebook page today.
“I’ve had a lot of time to get ready but I didn’t have my team here this weekend. To have all this support down here to help us out, massive thanks to those guys to help us out at short notice and make this possible at such short notice is absolutely awesome.
“It was gnarly out there. Obviously when you have the year off you forget how hard it is and the way it feels having so much moisture in the ground, I think the bumps got real sharp. I’m absolutely stoked.”
Semmens, 19, who finished fifth in his first attempt at Hattah in 2019 said he was grateful to the whole Hattah team to make the race possible under the circumstances.
“It’s such a hard race and the first two laps with him (Milner) was unreal, especially that first one,” he said.
“We were having so much fun looking back at each other and waiting for the other one to make a mistake. He blew a corner and I got that lead for a bit and led those first two laps but he got me on the third lap and I couldn’t track him down after that.
“Hats off to Daniel. He rode unreal. I’m pretty happy with my ride, it was my first proper senior race, I was here in 2019 but obviously with the wet it wasn’t the full length of the race. Four hours is a long time, it was bloody painful.”
Norton, 20, rode a fantastic race to finish on the podium after starting in 22nd. He spent time battling with Kiwi Yamaha rider Maximus Purvis for third place.
“Not too bad, I was happy with that,” he said of his ride. “I was pretty knackered at the end there but it was good fun.
“It was tough, probably not as tough as that (2019) but it was awesome. There was no dust which was great, the track team and everybody involved did a great job.
“I’m bloody knackered,” he laughed. “Kind of glad it’s over.”
Hastings Valley MC’s Billy Hargy and Bulkham Hills Marcus Nowland won outright honours in Saturday’s Junior Big Wheel and Small Wheel races respectively.
