The start of the Baja Poland 2014 race was standard for the team, no one knew what drama would follow. The usual administrative and technical handovers took place on Friday. Competitors parked their cars in a closed parking lot and waited for the start of the 7.36 kilometer long prologue. The weather slowly worsened and the opening ceremony of the race, at 5:30 p.m., already took place in the rain. In this race, the prologue track was traditionally planned in the military area near the Szczecin Sports Arena, and despite the bad weather, this part of the race attracted a lot of local fans. In the area that was made accessible, spectators could admire the art of driving in deep sand. Mirek Zapletal and Maciek Marton finished in 9th place. Other crews starting on H3 Evo cars finished the prologue in this order: Tomáš Ouředníček and Pavel Vaculík were seventeenth, and Jurij Sazonov and Arslan Sachimov finished in eighteenth place. The race was also attended by the crew of the Polish Bewa racing team, with an H3 Evo purchased from the Pelc family crew. This year, this team only participates in the Polish Cup and CEZ in the TH category. Next year, he intends to start already in the T.1.1 category.
On Saturday, Baja Poland moved to the military training ground near Drawsk Pomorske. The weather improved, the sun even peeked out at times. The first car started for the special stage, 188.5 kilometers long, at 8 hours and 45 minutes. The track led across the plain between the moors resembled a complex maze of sandy paths. Spectators could watch almost half of the starting field at the same time in the first part of the RZ from the elevated stands. Then the riders disappeared into the woods for a while and then reappeared in another part of the plain. The race took place without major problems and the Czech crews managed to keep a good pace. About 80 kilometers before the end of the first special stage, an ice shower came and our crew fell to the back positions. After hitting a rock sticking out of the sand, the rear skid of Mirko Zapletala's car bent and began to pick up dirt. After a while, a large amount of dirt and sand slowed the car so much that the crew was forced to stop, raise the car and remove this mass. Unfortunately, the piston rod lifting the car did not go all the way and after driving a short distance, it bent towards the rear wheel. It was necessary to stop again and temporarily attach the piston rod so that it no longer threatened the rear tire. Fortunately, our crew managed to limp to the finish line. The damaged rear wheel did not allow a very fast ride. Thanks to these problems, Mirek Zapletal lost more than 30 minutes. In the service, the mechanics were forced to cut off the bent piston rod. After aligning the grips of the skis, they replaced the rear wheel and the car was able to start the next special stage. The crew considered withdrawing from the race. Thanks to a big loss of time, Mirek Zapletal and Maciek Marton fell to the bottom of the starting field. Finally they decided to fight.
For the next part of Saturday's race, they started from the back and were forced to overtake slower cars, which is not an easy maneuver in the off-road. The Sentinel didn't work, so they were forced to follow Schott's Mini for more than 10 kilometers before finding a suitable place to overtake him. Tomáš Ouředníček was delayed in this part of the race by a puncture and Nasser Al Attiyah destroyed the rear axle after 8 kilometers, thus ending Baja Poland for him. It started raining on Saturday evening and it rained with small breaks until the start on Sunday. The first car started after ten o'clock for the fourth special stage near the village of Dobra, which is almost 73 kilometers long. The cars drove significantly slower on the very wet terrain than in the Saturday section. However, the heavy and muddy track suited our crew. Mirek Zapletal enjoyed the ride and rather accelerated compared to the other cars. About one kilometer before the end of the special stage, Vladimir Vasilyev flew off the track into the forest, destroyed his car and felled trees so badly that all the cars behind him had to stop. The organizers then decided to cancel the last RZ, which was a great shame for the Czech team. Mirko Zapletal gradually managed to make up for his loss and he got great satisfaction in this muddy special stage, which he won easily. He overtook race leader Krzysztof Holowczyk by almost two minutes. The organizers of the race have unfortunately announced the cancellation of the last special stage. They justified this decision by concerns about the safety of the riders, after a lot of rain the track became dangerous, which is why the race had to be stopped. An official statement given to the teams said the decision was made with the consent and support of all the crews who completed the fourth stage. No one from the organizing team asked about the opinion of the Czech crew, and after asking the surrounding teams, we found out that they only found out about the cancellation of the last RZ from the official statement. Given that it is driven on wet terrain and in rainy weather as standard, we can only guess what interests were behind this decision.
The race was won by Krzysztof Holowczyc, second was Adam Malysz and third was Martin Kaczmarski. So luck favored the Polish crews. Mirek Zapletal and Maciek Marton finished in sixth place, the Kazakh crew of Yuri Sazonov and Arslan Sachimov took seventh place, and Tomáš Ouředníček and Pavel Vaculík won ninth place. The Polish crew of the Bewa racing team also reached the finish line, and even won their category in the Polish Cup. "Despite the initial bad luck, I am very satisfied with this race. All cars from our workshops have arrived at their destination. They all worked without much trouble and if it wasn't for my mistake of not checking the piston rod capture, the mechanics would have had almost no work to do. It took me a lot of effort to get out of the back positions, but I was very happy with how the car worked and Maciek and I really enjoyed the last special stage. It's a pity that the organizers stopped the race, because, in my opinion, driving in difficult terrain will thoroughly test the quality of cars and crews. I respect the decision of the organizing team and I am not going to comment on it," said Mirek Zapletal after the race.
Source: Offroadsport
