The third and deciding round of the inaugural 2023 FIM Sand Races World Cup – the Monte Gordo Sand Experience – takes place this coming weekend (17-19 November) on the beautiful beaches of Portugal’s Algarve and following two hard-fought opening events the titles in the Moto and Quad classes are still very much up for grabs.
The series got under way with the three- Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de Calais on a tortuous thirteen-kilometre course on the beaches of northern France at the start of February, followed three weeks later by a six-lap contest over a twelve-and-a-half-kilometre course at the Enduro del Verano in Argentina and the Monte Gordo Sand Experience promises competitors another very different type of event.
This time around the results will be decided over two ninety-minute races – on Saturday 18 November and Sunday 19 November – which will take place on dry sand at low tide with a testing course approximately three-and-a-half kilometres in length.
The big story surrounds the fitness of Moto class leader Todd Kellett – Drag’on Tek Yamaha who will defend his advantage despite injuries sustained at the opening round of the 2023/24 Championnat de France des Sables beach race series at Berck at the beginning of October.
Unable to ride in the intervening weeks, the twenty-six-year-old British sand race specialist – who won in both France and Argentina – will be defending his eighteen-point advantage ahead of Belgium’s Yentel Martens – Honda who has recorded two third-placed finishes so far.
Martens, the son of 1993 FIM 500cc World Motocross Champion Jacky, has demonstrated his pedigree in sand and has to be considered a genuine threat to Kellett, although in such an unpredictable sport where so many factors – including mechanical issues and the inevitable manner in which the course will change over ninety minutes of racing – can come into play, nothing is a given until the chequered flag comes out for the second race.
Leader of the Quad class, Michel Trannin – Honda must surely start as favourite in the four-wheeled division and the fighting Frenchman has clearly demonstrated in both opening rounds that he has the ability to battle adversity in one of the off-road motorcycling world’s most physically demanding disciplines.
Overcoming technical troubles that sidelined him at two previous editions of the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de Calais, Trannin forced his way to first on home sand out of the riders registered for the series and then backed up this finish at the Enduro del Verano with the type of performance that wins titles.
An early crash in Argentina saw him playing catch-up for the full duration of the five-lap race as he pulled his way through the three-hundred-and-fifty-strong field to finish third out of the series’ registered riders to maintain his series lead.
He will need to show this fortitude again this coming weekend with his main challenge likely to be in the shape of his compatriot Pablo Violet – Yamaha who was second in Argentina after finishing third at the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de Calais.
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