HSE Motorex KTM Desert Racing Team’s Ben Grabham will kick off his domestic season tonight as the West Australian round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship kicks off at Busselton, south of Perth.

After an incredible recovery from severe spinal injuries sustained in last year’s Condoblin 750 race in April, when he encountered a mob of kangaroos at 140kph, Grabham is back stronger than ever.

With his racing career back on track and with another three months worth of training behind him, Grabham is looking to re-assert himself in Australian rally racing before taking on the Dakar Rally once again, a journey which begins with the Forest Rally.

“It’s really good to be back here in WA for my second Forest Rally,” said Grabham. “The atmosphere is really great with the massive public support, and a decent crowd in the bush is something we don’t normally see. Being an ARC round it’s also one of few opportunities I’ll have to race with the car guys like at Finke and Gascoyne.”

Grabham raced the event in 2012 and enjoyed the high-speed rally-style forestry sections of the course, but points out that racing in the west holds one unique trap for the unwary.

“Once the road is swept by the competitors it’s really grippy,” he added. “But WA is known for its pea gravel and sometimes if you’re as little as two inches off line – you’ll find it.”

Riding a KTM450SXF, Grabham is part of a strong moto contingent which includes fellow 2013 Dakar Rally competitors Matt Fish and Warren Strange.