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 | Italian Baja: Gadasin and Van Deijne out, Holowczyc leader on Day 1.
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Touching and tragical moments in Saturday’s Italian Baja: The biker Nicola Dutto from Italy had a serious accident during the first lap in the morning, along the first track on the Tagliamento river, after the junction with the other small river Cosa, near Provesano (San Giorgio della Richinvelda). The biker felt down from his Suzuki in a hard changing of route conditions because of the stony territory and hurted his back.
Immediately came the medical service and the helicopter which brought Dutto at the hospital of Udine where he’s being operated. At the moment we are not able to say anything about the medical refert, available in the late evening.
It’s a real pity, because the Italian Baja was giving big emotions to the public, with several surprises. During the first lap of the Competition, the favourite Boris Gadasin, the Russian winner of the 2007 and 2009 editions, had to withdraw because his car’s engine broke, stopping the fast start of Friday afternoon. Also the Dutch Tonnie van Deijne (Mitsubishi Pajero MPR13) had to withdraw after blown engine.
The leader of the overall ranking is the Polish Kristofz Holowczyc with his Nissan Navara, who came at the final line in 2:14:25 followed by the Belgian Van Cauwenberge (Nissan) with a gap of 2:17 minutes. Third temporary place for the Russian Bogdan Novitskiy who is saving points for the Team G-Force Gadasin.
Six foreign Teams seized on the first six places. Giovanni manfrinato came 7th and 1st as Italian pilot, with an prototype off road Renault Megane; behind him Holowczyc with a gap of 11:22, but ahead of Maurizio Traglio (Nissan Pathfinder) with a gap of 49 seconds, the pilot from Como together with his navigator, the local Miss Erika Pajer.
On Sunday the second and last stage of the Italian Baja, with last 2 laps for cars and 3 for bikes and quads. Arrival line in Spilimbergo with prize giving on the stage erected in Garibaldi Square.
2010/03/20 | 17:35 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/ITALIANBAJA
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