On the past 28-29th of October Team Xpectacular-Kawasaki was in the 25th Baja Portalegre 500, which is one of the most famous TT races in Portugal with lots of riders from different countries and a course of more then 400 kilometers. This year there were 75 quads, and 30 buggy/Utv. There were also cars and motorcycles.
Our team presented seven pilots. They are Joao Dias, Vitor Santos, Joao Eleutério, Rui Dores (owner of Xpectacular Motos), Telmo Nunes, all driving Kawasaki kfx 450, Sérgio Silva in Polaris Rzr 900 and Carlos Esteves in a Can Am Commander 1000.
Vitor Santos, which is on Xpectacular Team in a joint venture between Xpectacular/speedfreak, is one of the veterans still running. With is full equipped Kawasaki kfx 450 he has done a good prologue, where he stayed on the 16th place, which would be the place where he would start on the second day of race.This pilot did a remarkable race and in the first stage of the he was already on the 7th place and afterwards he achieved the 3rd place, that would be his final place. An excellent place for a veteran that is recovering after some months injured.
Joao Eleutério is an young rider that did his entry on TT in this race. Before he only raced on closed circuit races. He’s a very careful racer and achieved the 9th position on the prologue, in his Kawasaki Kfx 450.
He was a little bit nervous, because it’s a very hard race to do his premier, but on the first stage of the race he was already on the 6th position. He continued to climb on the classification and he finished the race on the 4th position, 1st of the Promotion class.
In the end he was very glad but with the feeling that he could have done more, because he raced very carefully.
Rui Dores, an experienced racer, has done an excellent place on the prologue, achieving the 6th place. His Kawasaki Kfx was literally flying on the prologue.
Unfortunately his luck run out on the beginning of day two when he had an accident with his Kawasaki kfx 450 that didn’t let him finish the race. Rui Dores had some minor injuries but his quad wasn’t good to continue the race.
We were all very sad because Rui Dores was in very good shape to obtain a top 3 place and because he’s a racer that provides a good show for the assistance.
Joao Dias, another young racer which is a promise of this new generation of racers, started well obtaining the 12th place on the prologue, with his Kawasaki kfx 450.
On the next stage he continued to go up on the classification, obtaining the 11th place. During the race he kept on climbing to the 6th place but he crashed and was forced to abandon the race.
Telmo Nunes, is an quad enthusiast that does few races, with his Kawasaki kfx 450, but is a very experienced rider.
On the prologue he obtained a modest 25th place but luck wasn’t with him because he had some rock that hit his quad in a sensible place (lost all the oil) and made him give up the race. It’s frustrating for the racer and team, but next year will be better.
Sérgio Silva, racing on a Polaris Rzr 900, which is still on development. had a very good prologue obtaining the 3st place. On the next stage he was already on the 1st place, showing the power of polaris Rzr 900. Unfortunately, on the last stage, he damaged an a-arm and had to give up. It was very disappointing to leave the race when he was running on 1st place with some time for the 2nd. But next year, with more knowledge of his UTV, we will race for championship.
Carlos Esteves, another UTV racer, in his Can Am commander achieved a good 10th place on the prologue. Unfortunately he had to abandon the race, in the first stage with mechanic problems.
On the overall Xpectacular Team had some very good results and a little bit of bad luck with some racers. This was the last race of the championship for 2010/2011, but next championship we’ll appear stronger with lots of news (quads, racers and others).
We remember our friend’s and sponsors that in QX (Quadcross) we were Portuguese champions, with the young Joao Vale.
Stay tuned.
Note: Xpectacular want’s to thanks Goldspeed, Kawasaki and all our pilots, mechanics and friends for the support.