Yamaha and Todd Smith 2nd at Condo 750
Yamaha has continued its outstanding
form at the Condo 750 with young rider Todd Smith coming second overall in
the gruelling two-day
navigational cross country event at Condobolin on the weekend.
2007
titleholder and Yamaha rider Jacob Smith was sidelined due to injury, so it was
his brother Todd’s turn to step up to the plate as a contender in the event
which has been dubbed the Australian version of the Paris to Dakar
rally.
Like his brother, Todd too has the true makings of a champion and
on just his third attempt at the event was second overall aboard his new Yamaha
WR450F, which was reaching speeds of up to 157 kilometres per hour as he tackled
some of the country’s most difficult terrain over the intense two
days.
“It was my third time at the
event and it was good to finish after crashing out last year and having an
engine failure the year before,” Smith said. I was a bit disappointed
on Sunday not being able to catch the eventual winner, Ben [Grabham], as much as
I tried I just couldn’t get there.”
“The bike ran well and I got some
got top speed which is fantastic considering I did not get in a lot of testing
time in the lead up to the event.”
After spending the weekend at the
spectator points and helping his brother, Jacob Smith will return to his bike in
the coming weeks after breaking his wrist badly at the first round of the 2008
Stadium-X Series at Orange in February.
“I am getting the
pins out of my wrist this week which will allow me to get back on the bike and
prepare for the Australian Four Day Enduro which is coming up,” Jacob
said. “It was certainly tough having to watch from the sidelines last
weekend but I am just happy that Todd [Smith] did well and kept the flag flying
high for the family and sponsor, Sam Laws Motorcycles.”
Other top placed Yamaha riders at
the Condo 750 included David Geeves who finished sixth outright despite hitting
a kangaroo on day one and Rod Faggotter who
travelled all the way from Longreach to make
his navigational rally debut where he won the second selective test and finished
13th outright despite a time penalty for a navigational
error.
Todd and Jacob will
both compete on their Sam Laws Motorcycles sponsored Yamaha WR450Fs at the 2008 Hogs Breath Australian 4 Day Enduro
at Warragul Victoria on the 17th—20th April.
Results still
subject to final confirmation at time of writing
