After eight days of off-road action, Jake Smith has taken home the Australasian Safari 2012 victory aboard his Honda CRF450X.

The 24-year-old lead the event from start to finish, building a comfortable winning margin of 31 minutes over his closest rival.

Smith is excited to have clinched his second Australasian Safari title, after earning his maiden event win in 2009.

“It’s never over ‘til its over so I was taking it easy to get through the cool beach stages and cross the finish line,” said Smith. “Having won last in 2009 it’s a really good feeling to win again.”

Coming in behind Smith to take the runner-up position was Warren Strange, the 47-year-old took it too the young guns and came out satisfied with his result.

“I’m really happy that an old guy like me can do this!,” said Strange. “I gave up motocross riding when these guys around me were kids! I’ve tried to do quite a lot of events this year in my preparation for Dakar so I’m really pleased it has paid off.”

Warren’s second place win was also a huge personal achievement for him, having had leukemia for 20 years.

“I’ve been able to take time off work to train and now I’m following my passion, life’s too short,” he added.

In his first-ever attempt at the event, it was Ryan Inghram rounding out the podium in third place overall aboard his KTM.

“I’m feeling pretty good with this being my first Safari, it’s the longest event I’ve contested,” said Inghram. “It was harder than I thought, a tough week. The stages were good, the longer the better for me. The bike’s been great to me too.”

For complete results from the 2012 event, click here.