On the past 4th of March the Qx championship started at Fernandinho, Torres Vedras. On the open class there were 11 pilots, including some famous Spanish pilots that came to try the Portuguese championship. Our team presented with the young rider Tiago Gomes, on his new Can-Am DS450 Mx. The goals for this first stage were only to score some points on the championship, without taking any risks, because we’re still on the early stage of the development of our DS450. There for we knew that we wouldn’t have the same power on our quad as our opponents.
On the first race our pilot had a bad start that put him on the 7th position on the first lap. With hard work and commitment, showing that the pilot and quad are very good, Tiago Gomes was able to get a 3rd place on the end of the race, only 20,5 seconds from the winner.
The 2nd race would be very different for our Can Am. The young pilot did the holeshot but during the race he would be exceeded by the 2011 championship, were we could see that our quad had less power. Tiago Gomes was able to finish on an excellent 2nd place, despite the forcing of the spanish rider Raul Vega.
On the end of this stage our pilot is in the second position on the championship and we got some very good indications of our Can Am ds 450mx. We know that with some more work, we’ll have a more competitive quad.
On the 17th and 18th of March our team participated on the Baja Carmim 2012, that was the first race of the CNTT 2012. Our team had 3 pilots racing, 2 on quad and 1 on UTV. Rafael Acúrcio, 2011 european Baja champion, is an young rider that raced for the first time, on a TT race, with His new Can Am ds 450mx, despite of his big experience with other quads. This is a very talented your pilot but also very careful, because his objective is to win the championship. On the prologue he got a good 5th place which was a good indicator for the next stage. During the second day he had a very good race, with a constant rhythm, achieving an excellent and final 3rd place. On the overall, despite the good result, we know that on a next race he’ll do better, with more knowledge and some more tune up of his Can Am ds 450mx.
Fábio Vilhena is another young talent, who made his first race on his new Can Am ds450mx. It was also his first race after the surgery to his knee made one month ago, that made it impossible to train until know. On the prologue he got a good 7th place, but the next day was not very good for him. He had some problems with his tires, which made him stop some times. But the bad luck continued and he had a crash, because of the heavy dust on this stage. Despite all he got a good 7th place on the final and we’re sure we will do better on the next race, now with more physical conditions.
Jorge Monteiro, driving a Polaris Rzr 900xp, has been the national champion for the last two years. He’s a very experienced and skilled pilot. With a very good driving he achieved the 2nd place on the prologue, which gave him an excellent position for the next stage. On the second day he increased his speed achieving and overcoming the 1st position pilot, finishing his race on the 1st position, despite some fuel problems with his Polaris Rzr. This year, Jorge Monteiro is, again, a serious contender to the title.
On the overall, Xpectacular Team achieved some good results, specially because we’re still developing our Can Am ds 450mx. We can promise that on the next races we’ll be more stronger, competitive and will have some more news and pilots.
Note: We would like to give a special thanks for Can Am, ELKA, MOTOWORKS and Goldspeed for their support. We also want to say thanks to our pilots, Xpectacular workers and friends.
