The third round of the Yamaha YXZ1000R Spain Cup delivered some thrilling racing at the Baja TT Dehesa de Extremadura on 8th-9th June.
With the Stock and Open categories both in action again fans were treated to superb competition, in which Pedro Delgado and co-driver Guifré Pujol once again emerged the Stock category victors in a repeat of their Mar de Olivos win in May, ahead of Edesio Caamaño and David Conde.
In similar fashion, José Luis Garcia and Xevi Moreno took their second consecutive win in the Open category, reserved for modified side-by-sides, and fought a valiant battle to win the Buggies Nacionales in the Spanish All-Terrain Rally Championship after receiving a penalty.
The highlight of the Extremadura round was the Edificio Siglo XXI in Badajoz that housed the village of the Yamaha YXZ1000R Cup, accommodating the seven teams that participating in the single brand cup. After the symbolic departure ceremony on Friday night, the real action started on Saturday with a 7km opening time-trial that determined the starting positions for the first of the four Super Special races in the weekend program.
Racers then competed in a timed race of 450 kilometres featuring two tough sections of 116km and 100km, each of which had to be lapped twice in scorching conditions.
Stock side-by-side pairing Rafa Villanueva and Javier Prieto set a fast pace on Saturday and were the fastest team in the opening time-trial and SS1. They unfortunately lost the chance to compete in both the following special stage and the finals after a technical problem resulting from the challenging SS2 journey, however they were still able to participate in the Super Rally.
The first 226km stage finished with Delgado-Pujol as solid leaders of the Yamaha YXZ1000R Spain Cup in the Stock category, ahead of García-Moreno leading the Open category with half the race still to go on challenging roads in high temperatures. The YXZ1000R teams demonstrated the reliability and adaptability of their machines on Sunday however to strengthen their position over the final 224km second stage.
The fast pace set by García and Moreno gave them the second-best time in the Buggies Nacionales, the third stage of the Spanish All-Terrain Rally Championship. In the accumulated standings the Catalan team was fighting for the national victory but ultimately finished fourth after a 10-minute penalty for skipping a when visibility was obscured by dust.
This setback did not stop them from being the first Yamaha across the line and winning the third round of the Yamaha YXZ1000R Spain Cup in the Open category, ahead of the determined Serra-Cano pairing. Stock category victory went to Delgado-Pujol after an impressive weekend stage followed by Caamaño-Conde and Villanueva-Prieto.
As is common after each rally the first classified teams in the Stock and Open categories were awarded free registration by Yamaha for the next single brand rally cup.
Round four of the Yamaha YXZ1000R Spain Cup will take place in the Baja Aragón on 25-27 July.
