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Northern Forest: Holowczyc first foreign winner of the Russian Winter Baja.
Baja Russia Northern Forest 2010 - a round of the International FIA Cup for cross-country bajas - was held in the St. Petersburg region for the 8th time. The Russian drivers won all the previous bajas but this year the Polish driver Krzystof Holowczyc interrupted this series.
Before the second day of the competition the Polish driver had 4 minute advantage over Alexander Zheludov. But on Sunday there was much attention to 5th place of Boris Gadasin - the last year winner of the Baja had to take back the time he had lost Saturday because of the technical problems.
Boris Gadasin attacked his competitors on the very first special stage today. However, a snowdrift stopped him where he lost some time and he came in 2nd, 30 seconds behind Krzystof Holowczyc. But Boris Gadasin took back two positions and got 3d place in overall.
The Italian Participant Riccardo Garosci (Mitsubishi Pajero) had to retire on SS6 because of the technical problems with his gear box.
The final SS of the Northern Forest Baja would have to give answers for many questions - the struggle was so strong that everybody felt nervous. Two drivers of the Top 3 in Group T1 and T2 ran into some problems.
Boris Gadasin was driving so fast that he extended his lead at every Check Point. But a slow puncture made him finish on a disk. The crew had to finish on three wheels and it was impossible to attack the second position which Alexander Zheludov took.
Nevertheless Gadasin showed the best result on SS6 but it was not enough to change the position in the Top 3 - it was the same: Holowczyc, Zheludov, Gadasin.
But at the Stewards' meeting after the finish it was reported that the restrictor of the silver medal winner of Baja 2010, Alexander Zheludov, didn't meet the requirements. At the Stewards' meeting it was decided to exlude this crew from the official result classification. So, the Top 3 of overall is the following - Krzystof Holowczyc, Boris Gadasin, Alexander Mironenko.
The leader of Group T2, Viktor Volikov, kept his first position, Andrey Cherednikov finished 2nd and Nuno Matos came in 3rd that was excellent for a debut on snow and ice surface!
Balazc Szalay whose participation was the first in the Baja was driving stable within the whole day and took 10th place. 14 crews finished in the International overall out of 15 - Riccardo Garosci didn't finish.
2010/03/01 | 09:16 CET | Editor: MR/HS/NF
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