Emma Milesevic wins the Hattah Desert Race by a staggering 20 minutes over her closest rival in a show of brilliance, will and strength. The young racer also finished 31st outright, amongst some 550 competitors across all classes.
“I’m so happy with the result, the hard work paid off and I achieved my main goal of taking the win in the women's. I also wanted a top 30 outright and I was 31st and I wanted a top 10 in the up-to 450cc class and I was 11th, so I just missed both of those. I will admit I was bummed to miss the top 10 by less than 30 seconds, especially after going so hard for the four hours,” Milesevic said.
After finishing the gruelling and challenging desert race in 4hrs and 16 minutes, Milesevic has already set her sights on 2022.
“Women’s motorsport continues to grow and it's important to race these races so we can get the recognition we need to grow our sport. Hattah is a fantastic race to challenge yourself against women and men of all ages and classes and I cannot wait for next year.” Milesevic added.
The young Victorian has continued to show her commitment to racing as she currently leads the Australian Off-Road Championships and the Victorian Titles. Honda's support of Milesevic has continued over three years and the team are proud to add this Hattah win to the list.
In the 250, Muc-Off Honda’s Mark Grove experienced the true ups and downs of racing during his Hattah campaign, coming away in 3rd for the weekend.
After qualifying 3rd, Grove was comfortable going into the race, strategically playing it safe to set himself up for a strong start.
“These young guys really come out swinging, I think being a father of four changes the way you approach racing, particularly in qualifying and heats, I don’t lay it on the line like they do for a bin-it or win-it sprint lap. Our tactic still paid off and put us in a great spot for the main event,” Grove said.
Grove was focused on the win from the get go, moving from 3rd to 1st as passed a lot of heavy hitters on bigger capacity bikes.
“I wanted the win really badly, I went hard from the start and passed everyone in my class and pulled away, I even passed some of the outright contenders on bigger capacity bikes. The boys in the Honda factory built me a weapon of a 250, this little CRF250 is fast,” Grove said.
After moving to 1st place, an unfortunate incident where Grove came together with another rider, resulted in his bike coming away quite damaged.
“I got hit hard by another rider who was out of control and it twisted my front end. I tried to straighten it up but had no luck and I had to ride it out for the next three hours, it was unfortunate but I am still glad I managed a podium finish,” Grove finished.
Working to make up for the crash, Grove finally moved back up into 3rd where he stayed for the remainder of the race.
Muc-Off Honda Racing enjoyed a successful weekend of racing at Hattah and look forward to competing again in 2022.
For more information head to www.hondamx.com.au