Warriors in the Dust

After last year's Finke Desert Race was canceled due to COVID-19, this year's event has been eagerly awaited, but once again COVID has intervened to prevent some Victorians from attending. We speak with a gutted five-time winner, Mark Burrows, who won't be racing, but also meet Luke Hayes, a local rider who grew up on the track, and as a privateer, hopes to shock the race teams.

We meet Dylan River, the maker of the outstanding feature documentary Finke - There and Back, who has actually raced the Finke something like eight times.

Volunteers are vital to the success of the Finke Desert Race and two of them, Julie and Lance Thomsen, share some of their stories from a decade of volunteering.

Ally and Josh Howells - top hopes in the cars section - not only racing the field, but racing each other.

Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine journalist Stephen "Tuffy" Tuff has reported on the Finke Desert Race for more than 20 years and ridden it multiple times. He dishes the dirt on Australia's greatest off-road race.

In his first ever podcast interview, four time King of the Desert and one of Australia's greatest off-road motorcycle racers, Ben Grabham, gives a rare insight into his remarkable career.

We speak with an industrious pair who have gone to extraordinary lengths to prepare for the Finke, and a brave woman who is using her race to help others.

In this episode, two Kings of the Desert reminisce about their collective seven Finke Desert Race titles and a self-described petrol head gives the great race its place among the iconic motorsport events he's watched around the world.

We speak with David Walsh, the reigning King of the Desert in the bikes section of the Finke Desert Race. He's been champion for two years, but hasn't defended his title once. How's that?? And we meet some fans who definitely have the 'Finke fever'.

If you have a favourite spectator story from watching the Finke, email it to [email protected]

In this, the very first episode of Warriors in the Dust, the official Finke Desert Race podcast, we look back at the cost of the 2020 cancellation of the race and look forward to the event returning to the Central Australian calendar in 2021.