Battling Belgian Yentel Martens – Honda kept his hopes of winning the inaugural FIM Sand Races World Cup alive when he claimed victory in the Moto class today on the opening day of action at the Monte Gordo Sand Experience in Portugal’s beautiful Algarve region, but Britain’s Todd Kellett – Yamaha remains in pole position with just tomorrow’s race to go before this exciting new series concludes.
Kellett, the winner of the opening two rounds – the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais in France and the Enduro del Verano in Argentina – back in February, headed to Portugal having been unable to ride since a heavy crash at the beginning of October. Showing incredible toughness, the twenty-six-year-old crossed the finish line second after ninety minutes of racing, however the event overall result and the title still hinges on Sunday’s race after which riders’ performances over the weekend are combined.
“I was leading for a bit and then Todd passed me,” said Yentel Martens. “I was quite comfortable in second and then a few more lines formed and I passed him, but it was difficult to make a good gap at first. We then had a good pit stop and then I saw I had a big lead. My focus now is just to win this event. I would be really happy to win the title, but I just want to take this event win and then we will see.”
Martens took the lead off the start from fellow Belgian Daymond Martens – Honda and Kellett before the British rider hit the front on lap two after posting the fastest lap time of the race. Under a bright blue sky in front of a big crowd of spectators the leading trio quickly began to distance themseves from the chasing pack with Kellett setting the pace until Yentel Martens moved ahead on lap five, but he was unable to pull clear and following the first ten laps of the approximately three-and-a-half kilometre course his advantage was just over one second with Daymond Martensa further twelve seconds behind.
With the leaders already encountering back-markers, Kellett lost valuable time on lap eleven as Yentel Martens moved over eight-and-a-half seconds in front and the Belgian slowly began to ease clear, extending his advantage to more than seventeen seconds at the halfway mark with Daymond Martens almost forty seconds behind in third.
Following a refuelling stop, Yentel Martens continued to grow his lead as Kellett dropped to third around twenty seconds behind Daymond Martens.
With the fine, energy-sapping sand testing riders’ fitness to the absolute limit, Kellett shrugged off his recent inactivity to put in a succession of fast laps that saw him reel in and then pass Daymond Martens in the closing stages. However, Yentel Martens was in complete control and he finished his thirty-third and final lap almost seventy-one seconds ahead with Daymond Martens third a further three seconds adrift of Kellett.
France’s Camille Chapeliere – KTM was a distant fourth and the only other rider to complete thirty-three laps.
FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship rider Amandine Verstappen – Yamaha from Belgium was the first female rider home in sixteenth with a total of twenty-eight laps. France’s Mathilde Denis was the second female across in the line in twenty-sixth place.
The overall winner of the Monte Gordo Sand Experience – and the ultimate destination of the 2023 FIM Sand Races World Cup – will be decided in tomorrow’s concluding ninety-minute race, but with an eighteen-point lead to defend Kellett already has one hand on the silverware.
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