Shepparton motocross star Madi Healey dominates at Finke Desert Race

The 460km event runs through the guts of Central Australia and Alice Springs as competitors face treacherous terrain, heat and jumps all at break-neck speed.

A crowd of roughly 10,000 pitched its tents and camp chairs to watch the exhilarating there-and-back action across the King’s Birthday weekend.

Healey was the star of the show on two wheels as she blitzed her opposition, finishing one hour, 11 minutes and 19 seconds ahead of second place in the female class.

For context on her dominance, in Healey’s first Queen of the Desert victory, she had a 21-minute gap to second.

The 20-year-old two-wheeled star finished the arduous course with a time of 5.13:38.281.

Healey said despite more-than-usual tricky terrain conditions, she was thrilled with how her race panned out.

“It was an awesome race and everything went well,” Healey said.

“I had no crashes and the bike handled unreal, it was fairly dusty and very rough terrain; a lot rougher than last year as it hadn’t really been prepped at all.

“I was very careful on the first day, just to make sure everything was fine.

“On the way home, I passed a few people and came 53rd outright and first in girls.”

With two Finke Desert Race wins under her belt, Healey said the celebrations for her second victory, while joyous, were kept tame.

“I got crook as on the way home, so that wasn’t much of a celebration,” she said.

“Family and everyone was rapt, so it was awesome to get it done again.

“We are already starting to plan for next year.”

But before Healey can turn all her attention to next year’s Finke event, the region’s motocross star has another desert race looming.

“I have the Hattah Desert Race the second weekend of July; that is my big race coming up,” she said.

“Hopefully, if everything goes well, I can do well in that and hopefully try to get the double desert sort of thing.

“It’s a long race, Hattah goes for four hours, so it’s a big race.”