Six victories at the Baja Portalegre 500. A feat managed only by two other great Champions of the National Off Road in Portugal: Mário Patrão and Roberto Borrego. António Maio wrote another brilliant page on his career. The Yamaha rider won the classic Portuguese event and revalidated his Champion title.
Maio was perfect throughout the two days of competition. He won the Prologue and SS2. Even so, the WR rider could not take it easy since Luís Oliveira (Honda) was less than 14 seconds behind.
Sebastian Buhler was another name on which all eyes were centred. The rider arrived in Portalegre with the same points as Maio in the Championship, but a big crash in SS2 lead to his withdraw. Buhler was airlifted to the hospital for precaution, but was send home this morning.
The Baja Portalegre 500 second leg was comprised only of one SS with more than 300 km. Maio was, once again, superb and this time around he left no margin for doubts. The Alentejo rider won the Baja Portalegre for the sixth time, and left Luís Oliveira more than four minutes adrift after a very exciting fight for almost 70 km. After that Oliveira started to face some problems with his bike and was force to reduce his pace to ensure he would reach the Park Ferme in Portalegre. Mário Patrão was third almost 12 minutes from the winer.
Borrego’s second hat-trick
Among the ATV’s Roberto Borrego was the master of the Baja, leading from start to finish. The Ponte de Sor born ended the Automóvel Club de Portugal’s event with more than 17 minutes advantage over Filipe Fernandes and ensured his third consecutive victory at the Baja Portalegre 500… for the second time! Closing the podium, and racing at home, Vítor Caeiro was third, 21 minutes adrift from Borrego.
Martins takes the title on Faria’s first win
One of the two wheels national references, Ruben Faria recently changed to the SSV, and ensured his first win at the Baja Portalegre. The Algarve natural, with Pedro Velosa by his side, drove the Can-Am X3 to the first position, which made him the sixth different driver to win this season.
Vítor started out as the leader this Saturday but found himself out of contention after problems with his SSV in what turned out to be a very hot and demolishing day for drivers and machines alike. With this, Stéphane Peterhansel (Yamaha) finished second, while Bruno Martins ensured the Championship title.