The 2023 Hattah Desert Race featured a wide range of strong results from KTM-supported riders across the weekend in Victoria, headlined by Mason Semmens on Sunday after he captured the outright victory at the notoriously tough, four-hour event.
Qualifying in the Top 10 Shootout was led by STE Racing's Callum Norton, who posted a lap time that was over a second clear of second position. Semmens’ time was good enough for fourth, while off-road regular Andy Wilksch qualified in ninth. Outside the 10 sat Riley McGillivray in 12th, Angus Riordan in 17th, and HMG Motorsport KTM desert racer Liam Walsh in 30th.
Sunday’s eight-lap race began with 22-year-old Semmens (Trail Jesters KTM Racing Team) making a succession of quick moves into third, before steadily hunting down the leaders and making the move for the lead at the midway mark. From there the US-based Victorian managed the lead until the chequered flag flew in a total time of 4h28m13.419s, marking his first Hattah overall and the 251cc-450cc four-stroke class win.
FMF RPM KTM Racing Team rider Riordan charged to fourth-place outright by race's end, securing third place in class and climbing an impressive 13 places throughout the race. Walsh, too, put on an impressive charge, working his way to a fifth-place result in the over 450cc category and 12th outright.
For Wilksch and Norton, a crash for the former while passing for sixth saw him retire on lap six after tweaking his back, while –fresh from a Finke Desert Race podium – Norton encountered troubles and rode home to 15th place in class for the 2023 edition. The weekend also saw KTM-mounted Tom Mason power his 250 SX-F to the quarter-litre four-stroke class victory and 15th outright.
Mason Semmens: “What a weekend! The prologue went smoothly, managed P7 in the first run and then a nice fourth place in the Top 10 Shootout, which I was happy with and achieved a good starting position for Sunday. I got off to a good start for the main race, had some great battles with Callum and Jack [Simpson], before managing my way into the lead and from there kept chugging along to get the win. I can’t put into words how much this means to me, it’s a dream come true, and I am absolutely stoked!”
Andy Wilksch: “This year’s Hattah was awesome, a lot of entries and the atmosphere was great. Saturday’s prologue was pretty good, we went fourth with the smooth track, and then for the Shootout the track was fairly different and I just made a few too many mistakes, which put me to ninth. For the race, I got off the line well, made some passes early, then was making a move for sixth, high-sided and tweaked my back. From there it was salvage mode because the track was brutal today, and I made the call just to be conservative to avoid any big mistakes. Considering the year we’ve had with my knee injury, I pulled in on lap six to keep safe and will fight again at the next off-road round.”
Liam Walsh: "The prologue started off not great as I missed a turn towards the end, which put me way back in 30th heading into Sunday. I got off to a pretty hectic first lap as I went down to about 35th, and then from there it was about being as smooth and efficient as possible. I ended with 12th outright and fifth in class, so would like to say a massive thanks to KTM and all the people that help me get here."
Riley McGillivray: "It was a tough day at the office today. I was pushing hard at the start of the race after a strong prologue, then had a big one... Next thing I knew I was outside the top 20, but I pushed on, made my way back to 18th outright and fourth in the U19s class."