Race Report
22nd of March - Second victory for Gadasin!
On Sunday - the last day of "Italian Baja 2009" there was two similar Special Stages (SS5 and SS6).
Russian Boris Gadasin, with co-driver Vladimir Demyanenko, driving a Nissan Pick-up G-Force, dominated and won the sixteenth edition of the Italian Baja with a total time of 3h46'05'', in front of the Czech crew Zapletal-Ourednicek (Mitsubishi L 200) with a 4'16'' gap and the Dutch crew composed of Van Deijne-Rosegaar (Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution) with a gap of 5'41''.
The events of these three days of races saw Van Deijne's (from Holland) ambition of being first extinguish itself; he was first only in the Prologue, but was always important in keeping the pace of the race. Gadasin however had the best times in four out of the five stages along the Selective Section "Baja Italia" - slightly shortened to 78.4 km (as a result of fords on the Tagliamento river) - and he only allowed his adversary some breathing space in the last stage due to the fact that he had already won. Zapletal's performance was more consistent and he therefore arrived in second position.
Alexander Mironenko with Sergey Talantsev (11, Nissan Navara) finished the race with 5th overall position just 31 seconds behind Balazs Szalay on Opel Anatara. In any case it is great result and 4 more posints in FIA classification go to Russian pilot.
Finally the third Russians Yaroslav Solovyev with Konstantin Zhiltsov (22, Nissan Navara) made a great job on the last day and finished on 12th overall position.
As always the stages on the riverbeds, in particular that on the Tagliamento River, were spectacular especially when competitors had to challenge the masses of water. Only 27 out of the 39 cars at the start of the race reached the finishing line.
21st of March. Leg 1!
According the Race Program, on 21st of March the crews raced 3 Special Stages (SS2, SS3, SS4) and the same but 2 Specials on 22nd of March.
The route of Special Stages has been shortened (as a result of excess water in the Tagliamento) to a little more than 78 km after the briefing of Friday evening,
On the Leg 1 Russian Boris Gadasin won all 3 Special Stages, increasing his leading. On his Nissan Pick-up, he dominates in the first leg of the Italian Baja. The Russian pilot, who started fairly quietly in the Prologue on Friday, yesterday settled everything by taking control of the situation and finished the evening with a total time of 2h53'23'', distancing himself with a gap of 3'15'' from the Czech Miroslav Zapletal and 4'46'' from the Dutch Tonnie Van Deijne (both driving a Mitsubishi).
Second Russian crew - Alexander Mironenko finished the Leg 1 with a great 4th position, because of no problems with car or navigation.
For the third Russian crew - Yaroslav Solovyev (22) the day begun not so good. At the start of SS2 there was a problem with microphone in the pilot's helmet, and the co-pilot did not hear him at all. More over after 5 km on SS2 the wheel hydraulic booster has refused and it was double hard to finish this Stage. Anyway everything finished well for the crew, they finished Leg 1 on 18th position, but of course have lost a lot of time.
20th of March, Day 2. Second session of CHecks and "Super Special Stage"!
Today all Russian crews finished the administrative and technical checks in the Fiera of Pordenone and race the Prologue.
The short prologue of 9,91 km (motorbikes and quads at 3:55 pm; cars at 4:55 pm) on the stony riverbed of the Tagliamento river (in the surrounding area of the municipality of San Vito) from the locality of Ponte Rosso Sud to the hamlet of Carbona, was very interesting and gave the first official classification and the starting order for the leg on Saturday.
Russian Boris Gadasin finished on 2nd position after Van Deijne who leads with 5'3 second ahead. Third was Zapletal 8 second after leader and 3 second behind Gadasin.
Solovyev was 9th on Prologue and Mironenko finished on 17th position.
Full SSS Results in Result area
19th of March, Day 1. First session of Checks!
Today starts the long weekend of the Italian Baja. This afternoon, at the Fiera of Pordenone in Viale Treviso, there will be the first session of administrative checks (from 3 pm to 7 pm) and scrutineering (from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm) of the competitors, and will conclude tomorrow morning.
To be expected: 44 car teams, 9 motorbike racers and 27 quads.
There are 3 Russian crews in Car category entered the race this year.
Boris Gadasin with Vladimir Demyanenko (starting number 1), the main favourite, driving a Nissan Pick-up, arrived two days ago in order to be acquainted with the race course. The Russian pilot does not want to leave anything to chance; he began his season by winning at St Petersburg and intends to confirm his leadership by being first in the Fia Cup for Cross Country Bajas. His theoretical main adversaries are Van Deijne Tonnie (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo) from Holland who came third last year, and Miroslav Zapletal (Mitsubishi L200) from the Czech Republic, who arrived seventh at Dakar last January in Argentina and Chile.
The next two crews from Russia is well-know in native country and have an international experience as well.
Alexander Mironenko with Sergey Talantsev (starting number 11) and Yaroslav Soloviev with Konstantin Jiltsov (starting number 22) are both who starts here with Belgium team Overdrive on Nissan Navarra. Mironenko intends to increase the number of points in FIA Baja Cup classification - after Baja "Northern Forest in Saint-Petersburg" he had 5 points on his account.