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 | Estoril-Marrakech: Hélder Rodrigues is still in the lead and Casteu third.
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Day 2 at the Vodafone Estoril-Portimão-Marrakech and going from Alentejo to Algarve confirmed what was expected: good old fights for first places, with technical and hard stages for bikes and bikers. The stars are still the same as Hélder Rodrigues is still first overall, finishing day 2 of the event organized by Automóvel Club de Portugal with a total 05:29:10, a 2:41 lead over Luís Correia and 4:48 over David Casteu, who came back hard and climbed into 3rd.
The French was in evidence in this morning’s special stage, Odelouca, closing the 188,8 km with 34 seconds less than overall leader, being third overall in CP1 (km 100,1). "What a spectacular stage! I attacked from the very beginning and caught Frans (Verhoeven) before the refuelling area, losing some time in his dust. After that I could see Ruben’s dust but I did not take any chances and just finished quietly, as my Sherco was tip-top".
Hélder Rodrigues, second in the morning and fourth at the stage of Portimão (14,7 km) this afternoon, is about to get to Africa as main contender. "Everything is going well, but I made a small mistake in my tyre choice, mainly the rear one, and lost some traction. The navigation was difficult and the track had fewer indications than yesterday, so we needed permanent attention".
Between Rodrigues and Casteu, Luís Correia went to the second day still in a podium position, but in the morning he had some problems in Odelouca - before being fastest in Portimão. "In the morning I couldn’t stay focus and the last part was not so good. The track didn’t have a lot of signs and because of that I had to use the road book all the time - and I’m still learning how to use it".
Ruben Faria fell into fourth, after two fifth places in the stages of the day, and now is ahead of Frans Verhoeven, with the Dutch classifying the stages as very technical". Mário Patrão got lost 2 or 3 times, but always came back to right way, finishing sixth overall, ahead of David Megre, Paulo Gonçalves, José Pellicer and João Rosa.
Estoril-Marrakech Overall Bikes Top 5 after SS02
01) Hélder Rodrigues I Yamaha I 05:29:10
02) Luís Correia I Yamaha I + 02:41
03) David Casteu I Sherco I + 04:48
04) Ruben Faria I KTM I + 05:14
05) Frans Verhoeven I BMW I + 10:57
2010/06/10 | 12:23 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/URTUBIA
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