Without self-confidence, it’s like babies in the crib and the riders António Maio (Yamaha), in motorcycles, and João Vale (Can-Am Renegade), in quads, set off for the ultimate 140 km selective sector of the Baja TT Sharish Gin with high confidence levels, leaving their victorious marks on the event designed by the Motorism Section of the Sociedade Artística Reguenguense.
In a truly triumphant event, the rider from Serpa pulled out all the stops to collect another triumph in his collection, conquering, without appeal, the absolute victory in the Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos de Monsaraz – Mourão – Redondo, and in the TT2 category.
At the helm of a Yamaha WR 450, António Maio left nothing to chance to successfully “escape” towards another flawless triumph in the 2023 National Off-Road Championship, this time at the Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos de Monsaraz – Mourão – Redondo.
The Alentejo rider from Serpa faced the event organized by the Motorism Section of the Sociedade Artística Reguenguense with the same discipline and skill with which he faces his professional daily life, especially because the major of the National Republican Guard (GNR) took advantage of the fifth scoring event for the 2023 National Off-Road Championship to accumulate experience in preparation for the next Dakar commitment.
Capable of balancing a career as a GNR military officer with that of a pilot, António Maio successfully completed the mission this weekend on two wheels, with a total time of 4h20m43.7s, the result of careful planning, after a titanic “battle” with Tomás Dias (Fantic XEF), winner in the Junior category, and Gustavo Gaudêncio (Honda CRF 450 RX), second and third respectively. “Despite being a bit dangerous and physically demanding, the race was fun and a good test for our bike, in which we ended up with a good result. We didn’t make any mistakes, essential for the outcome achieved, because the race was treacherous, which forced us to be cautious in our pace to avoid unnecessary risks, and of course, I am happy to have won another race,” said the Yamaha rider at the end of the competition.As preparation for the Dakar, this race was an excellent training and I am confident for the next commitment, the Baja do Oeste. I thank all the sponsors who have supported me over the years and this victory is dedicated to all of them,” replied António Maio.
Tomás Dias and Gustavo Gaudêncio maintained a very energetic pace throughout the weekend and, in the final selective sector of 133.93 km, Gustavo Gaudêncio finished ahead of Tomás Dias, although the advantage that the pilot from Reguengos had was enough to secure the middle step of the podium, 4m06.2 seconds behind António Maio. Gustavo Gaudêncio finished 4m42.8s behind the winner.
In fourth place was Bruno Santos, 10m07.8s off the top of the standings, but the Husqvarna FE rider returned home with the victory in the TT3 class, with Miguel Castro, on a Husqvarna FE 450, closing out the top five, 1s behind 4th place.
Fábio Magalhães, on a Honda CRF 450 RX, finished in sixth place – just 7s away from victory in the TT3 class – with Bernardo Megre, riding a KTM EXC F, closing out his participation in seventh place, securing the victory in the TT1 class in Reguengos.
In the Kawasaki KX 450 X, David Megre, 11th overall, won the FIM Baja European Championship at his leisure, with a time of 4h41m36.1s, with the second position belonging to Bruno Borrego, on a KTM 950 adventure, who triumphed in the national competition in the Trail Class.
In the Promo class, André Calado, 10th overall, rode his KTM 500 EXC to first place, with Christophe Lajouanie, on a Sherco SEF-R 450, winning the Veterans class.
João Vale relentless among the quads
Among the Quads, João Vale was true to himself and did not let anyone else interfere, because the only difference between a good day and a bad day is attitude, and the pilot from Santo Tirso applied that maxim to conquer victory in the Baja TT Sharish Gin Reguengos de Monsaraz – Mourão – Redondo.
At the helm of a Can-Am Renegade 1000 XXC, the current national champion in the discipline triumphed with over two minutes of advantage over the young Rodrigo Alves (Yamaha YFZ 450 R), which perfectly reflects the pace imposed, not giving any chance to the general competition.
“It was a very positive race. We started with second place in the prologue on Friday, yesterday we started the 180 km selective sector in which, after only 30 km, I punctured the front tire and was forced to roll about 150 km in those conditions, which left us in third place, where we started today,” highlighted João Vale.
«Instead of what happened previously, today we started well and I had no bad luck until the end – we punctured already in the final part, but without harming our performance – and we managed to win, which was our goal this year, since we had problems at the beginning of the year and it was difficult to win the championship», concluded the experienced pilot from Santo Tirso.
The fight for the second position was intense, with Rodrigo Alves winning this challenge by 2.2 seconds over Rafael Carvalho (Yamaha YFZ 450 R), a pilot who never gave up and confident that until the end, everything is possible.
Rodrigo Alves was also the fastest among the Junior contingent, with a time of 4h38m52.5s, relegating Rafael Carvalho (Yamaha YFZ 450 R) and Tiago Ferreira, in a similar machine, to second and third positions, 2.2s and 9m31.2s behind, respectively.
Fábio Ferreira (ATV Racing YFZ) and Fernando Cardoso (Yamaha YFZ R) secured the 4th and 5th place, respectively, 3m26.7s and 3m32.3s behind the winner, both very excited about the competition for a position, separated by a difference of 5.6 seconds.
In the FIM Baja European Championship, Frenchman Antoine Sanchez (Yamaha YFM 700 Raptor) was the winner, with a time of 4h55m03.6s, with Luís Fernandes (Yamaha YFZ 450 R) in second place, 27m57.4s behind.
In the Promo Class, Tiago Ferreira, on a Yamaha YFZ 450 R, claimed victory with a time of 4h48m23.7s, followed by Hélder Sá (Moto STAR TR), 14m16.9s behind. As for the Veterans, Marco Pedroso (Yamaha YFZ R) won with a time of 5h08m00.5s, with Carlos Reguinga (Yamaha YFZ 450 R) far behind.
More information about the Baja TT Sharish Gin here
