Luís Fernandes dominates quads competition
João Dias and João Filipe win SSV category
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It was almost at curtain time that Gustavo Gaudêncio, on a Honda CRF 250, became the first winner of Baja Oeste de Portugal. The pilot won in the motorcycles, while Luís Fernandes, on a Yamaha YFZ 450R, registered his name as the winner in the quads and XXX was the best in the SSV.
With the weather more in line with the time of the year, the competitors left the closed park early for the last selective sector of Baja Oeste de Portugal. Martim Ventura, on the motorcycles, started in the front and assumed himself as a great candidate for victory. The first control of the day showed that everything would stay that way, since Ventura still gained five seconds to Gustavo Gaudêncio, who was second at the time. From then on, everything changed. The Honda pilot regained ground and passed the leader. The time difference was such that the two ended Baja Oeste de Portugal separated by almost four minutes, and Gaudêncio had the advantage. This turnaround was essentially due to a mishap of Martim Ventura, who hit a hole and lost about four minutes getting out of it.
Fábio Magalhães, who started the sector in fourth place, soon managed to regain ground on Mário Patrão, who was third, and ascended to the podium places. However, the disadvantage to the first two was so big that the third place ended up being a good deal for the KTM EXC 250 pilot.
"The race started very well, right in the prologue. The first selective sector didn't. It went quite badly. In the afternoon, in the second sector I was able to go faster. Then there were a series of penalties and I was about a minute behind Martim. The idea was, in the last sector, to try to attack as much as possible and see what was possible. I didn't make any mistakes, while Martim, unfortunately, made one. He lost a lot of time and I was on top of him. I managed to take advantage of it and won the overall classification. With this result, I became TT1 national champion and let's see how the rest of the season goes, because I'm well positioned in the fight for the overall title", said Gustavo Gaudêncio.
Fernandes' untouchable victory in quads
The last day of competition served to confirm Luís Fernandes' dominance in quads. The Yamaha YFZ450R pilot was once again the fastest in this selective sector and takes home the trophy corresponding to the first place in Baja Oeste de Portugal. This time, the main adversary on track was Rafael Carvalho, who was 17 seconds away. But in the general classification, second place went to Luís Engeitado. Fábio Ferreira closed the podium in this category.
"I started the day calmly to get to the end as I wanted, with the bike in one piece and in front. Then I suffered a crash and from then on I had to tighten up because I knew I had lost time. I came with a strong pace all the time. I made two or three mistakes, but what matters is that I'm here with the victory," exclaimed the winner.
João Dias moves up to first in the last kilometers and wins in SSV
The SSV competition was dominated by Gonçalo Guerreiro until the last day of Baja Oeste de Portugal, but João Dias and João Filipe were the ones who climbed to the top of the podium. The Can Am Maverick duo was always among the first five, but with a better performance in the last selective sector, they became the first winner of the new competition of the national championship.
The podium was completed with João Monteiro and Victor Hugo Melo in second place and Roberto Borrego and Nuno Abrantes in third. Gonçalo Guerreiro, who had been first since the prologue, ended up having mechanical problems in his SSV even before the beginning of the last selective sector and was forced to abandon.
"The first edition of Baja Oeste de Portugal was very good. I leave here with a bittersweet taste. I'm happy for the victory, but sad for the path the championship is taking. I hope that next year I can have the race again here at home. Overall, it was a spectacular weekend. The tracks were beautiful, well marked. Everything was good", praised João Dias.
In the international competition, the highlights were Martin Michek, Sara Garcia, Pedro Bianchi Prata and Mário Patrão who won the categories in which they raced.
Automatic translation from the official press release
Source of text: Escuderia de Castelo Branco-
Photos: Rally-Raid Network
