Fierce fight was going on for the places of the podium on the last day of the Italian Baja.
After Saturday when the pilots familiarized with the course during the three selectives, Sunday was about speed and seconds. Additionally, the early morning wake was rewarded by sparkling sunshine that favorably boosted the race spirit of the contestants. The unit of the Szalay Dakar Team riding the Antara RR performed very well on the last two stages. Balazs Szalay is content with their achievement, he did not see any rational chance for crawling upper on the rank list. "We had a great time. We made better and better results on the stretches. By the end of the race we managed to get to the overall 4th position that I am very satisfied with. On one hand, Gadasin, Zapletal and Van Dejne had such a fierce battle in the front that we could not have caught up with, but on the other hand we improved our last year´s placing" claimed the pilot. The duo faced a bit of a technical difficulty when passing a river at the last stage, but successfully kept their 4th position. Because of high speed the sensor of the butterfly valve became wet, and the coordination between the gas pedal and the engine was lost. This resulted that they could not reach higher speed. Despite of the route changes, the 2009 Italian Baja was a great success thank to the organizers. The stages required routine and technique and were quite difficult, full of interesting elements, all that is expected from a cross country rally. The weekend was loaded with excitement, flat tires, astray and overturns. The fans could follow through a very eventful challenge. Baja Racing News.com