Poland’s Miroslav Zabeltal-Marek Sikora lead Hungary’s Baja after the prologue and two sprints. Michal Maluszynski was second, while Belgian Ghislaine de Mevius, competing in the T3 class, was third. Among motorcyclists, Stefan Svetko holds the first place.
Because of the rain in the past few days, the field also had to cross huge puddles, the varied course made the competitors’ work considerably more difficult. Zabeltalik’s advantage is 4.5 seconds, thanks to the fact that his compatriot Malushinsky received a two-minute penalty. De Mevius is 20 seconds behind, and fourth-placed Holowczyc is just over a minute behind. Chucsue had trouble in first gear, and they didn’t finish the course, so they are ten hours behind. The best Hungarian unit is the Csaba Miklós – Albert Horn duo, starting in the T3 category. The pair finished thirteenth and sixth in class.
Svetko dominates the moto, ten minutes ahead of second-placed Jan Brabec. The best Hungarian is Richárd Hodola in fifth place, he is 26 minutes behind Svitkó.
Remarks of the riders at the end of the day
Stefan Svetko (1st place): The second stage was better, because in the first stage I still had to fully rely on my itinerary, and in the second stage, after leaving the car field, you could see the tracks better, so I could step On the gas more bravely. I’m in great shape, I didn’t fall, I really enjoyed the day!
Jan Brabec (2nd place): I made two mistakes in the second stage, which weren’t huge, but I lost time because of them, and I can only blame myself for them. But overall, I can’t be dissatisfied, because this is my first race since the Dakar, I had to recover from a broken ankle, and now I have to get back into the racing rhythm. I take it step by step and this race is very good training for that.
David Megri (3rd): Like most of the prologue I did better on stage two than the first, I kept my third place and the gap to Brabeck is pretty small so I need to switch it up a bit on Saturday to the right!
Richard Hudola (5th place, best Hungarian): An improvement of three minutes compared to the first stage, but it seems that this is not enough, because the opponents accelerated more. I’m still in fifth place, and there are a lot of stalkers behind me, who are also not far away, so you have to look behind you, so the goal for tomorrow is to at least maintain this position.
Mohammed Al Balushi (World Cup Leader): It was a very difficult day for me. There was a lot of dust and a lot of water flowing in which made the stages difficult, but I completed the distance, which is good news, I’m here at the Services Park and looking forward to tomorrow. The biggest challenge for me was the track itself, dust, water and stones, I still have to learn and evolve in these conditions. Oh, and a little extra speed would be nice, too. I should add that I have to look at the overall picture, as there are three World Cup races left, which I’m leading the points race in, so I try to ride smart and of course push the gas as much as possible.
