Focussed on the championship title, António Maio (Yamaha WR 450) is the leader of the 30th Baja Portalegre 500, 26.75 seconds ahead of Luís Oliveira, the fastest on the Prologue. Sebastien Buhler, first in the championship at the start of the Baja, is doing his best to defend himself from Maio. For now, he has not been successful and, after the first 90 km of competition, he is third overall, 1m30s behind.
With Yamaha dominating the top 3, João Lorenzo is the best rider with a different make. At the handlebars of a Sherco, he is fourth, almost three minutes adrift from the leader, while Gustavo Gaudêncio, in Honda, closes the top 5.
The first day was a positive one for António Maio, despite a small setback at the end. “The river crossing has not been kind to me. I had a 40 or 45 seconds advantage over Oliveira, but the bike stopped while crossing and he passed me again. We arrived together, I gained a minute and a half, but the advantage is not as good as I would like it to be. Anyway, my objective is to ensure the title,” said Maio.
Home fight for Caeiro and Borrego
The fight for the first place amongst Quads was a very close one. Roberto Borrego (Yamaha YZF) was the first leader. The Ponte de Sor rider must win and hope that Arnaldo Martins finishes out of the top 6 if he wants to take the title. But after SS2 both lost time due to mechanical problems. Borrego had gas problems, while Martins faced difficulties with the brakes. Back to Quads competition, Vítor Caeiro, from Portalegre, is the leader, with a 15.97 seconds advantage over Borrego. Marco Cardoso is third and Arnaldo Martins is fourth.
Jordão in front of Carvalho and Peterhansel
UTV/Buggies are also very close. After the day’s two stages, Miguel Jordão leads with his Polaris RZR. Second after the Prologue, the rider increased his pace and consistency and got the Service Park with a 15.43 seconds advantage over Ricardo Carvalho. Meanwhile, Stéphane Peterhansel didn’t make it better than 10th in the morning, but ended the day third. The French is now 38.66s behind Jordão.