The Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, in the Algarve, will host the Monte Gordo Sand Experience on the weekend of November 17th to 19th, the ultimate stage of the first edition of the Sand Races World Cup that, in its debut year, has Portugal to close a season that saw races held in France and Argentina.
More than a hundred riders are registered for a completely unprecedented race in Portugal, featuring the best riders in the world in the specialty and several Portuguese champions.
This new competition, held under the auspices of the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and the Portuguese Motorcycling Federation (FMP) and with the accredited sports organization of the Automóvel Clube de Portugal team in Portugal, has the participation of riders from eight different nationalities, with foreigners in the majority: 76 in motorcycles (33 Portuguese) and 27 in quads (9 Portuguese).
The sandy beach of Monte Gordo was chosen as the setting for this final stage, featuring a unique circuit that spans 5 km for the hour and a half race for motorcycles and one hour for quads.Among the foreign pilots highlighted, in the bikes, is the leader and winner of the two races held in France and Argentina, the British Todd Kellet, who at the helm of a Yamaha will have as opponent in the fight for the title the Belgian Yentel Martens on a Honda. From the Top 5 of the World Cup, we note the presence of the also Belgian and also on a Honda Daymond Martens and the French Camille Chapeliere on a KTM.
Among the quads, where the fight for the title promises to be more intense since the difference between the top two is shorter, the headliners are the French Michel Trannin and Pablo Violet, the former on a Honda and the latter on a Yamaha, who are separated by a mere five points. It is worth noting that in the Top 10 of this discipline we find two Portuguese riders based in France: Nuno Gonçalves and Paulo Fernandes, respectively 8th and 10th in the standings.
The Portuguese participation raises great curiosity since none of the most prominent national riders have previously participated in races of this nature.
Coming from motocross will be in Monte Gordo Paulo Alberto, who has been competing in Brazil since 2013 and has won national titles in both countries – Brazil and Portugal, Luís Outeiro who was recently the Portuguese representative in the MXGP class at the Motocross of Nations and André Sérgio, national runner-up in Motocross MX1 and who recently finished 2nd in the Baja Portalegre 500.
Coming from All-Terrain will be the national champions in motorcycle and quad, António Maio and Luis Fernandes, both on Yamaha, and the Junior Moto champion João Duarte on Honda.
The Monte Gordo Sand Experience also features the participation of French rider Mathilde Denis on a Honda, and Belgian rider Amandine Verstappen on a Yamaha, in the motorcycle category, and French rider Nathanaelle Abgrall on a Yamaha, in the Quad category.
The Monte Gordo Sand Experience starts on November 17, with the circuit reconnaissance on foot at Monte Gordo Beach and administrative and technical checks at the sports center in Vila Real de Santo António. The competition starts on Saturday, November 18, at 11:00 with a 1h30 race for classes M, MD, and MJ2 and a 30/45 minute race for classes MJ1, CL1, and CL2. At 13:30, the 1-hour quad competition starts for classes Q, QD, and QJ. On Sunday, at 12:00, the motorcycle race takes place, with the same duration for the different classes, and at 14:30 the quad competition. The prize-giving ceremony is scheduled for 16:30.
