– It is a great honor and at the same time a responsibility that this year, in addition to CEZ and the Hungarian championship, the Polish off-roaders also included the event in their annual evaluation. So I thought – for the first time in my 25-year career – that we would not try new ideas and plans, but rather dust off the already well-proven system of last year and implement the race with only minor refinements, paying even more attention to the safety of the audience – said the main organizer of the competition, Zoltán Garamvölgyi.
Sudden potholes, waves and water-filled trails can cause unexpected turns on the Riverside Baja course. For a few kilometers, the vehicles have to cross “lakes” sometimes 40-50 centimeters deep, the 2-3 cubic meters of water coming into the lap from the first puddle can surprise open car, motorcycle and quad racers. – The course is characterized by amazing changes in rhythm and surface, which makes the competition particularly difficult, but there are always parts that you look forward to solving in the most beautiful or fastest way. The audience is also always very grateful and they tend to conjure up a particularly good atmosphere at the viewing points. You also have to pay close attention to the wild animals in this area, as many rabbits, pheasants, roe deer, deer, and wild boar live here, Zoltán Garamvölgyi noted.
On Friday, May 10, at a quarter past three in the afternoon, the prologue opens the cross-country race, which is followed by two speed races, and on Saturday, four stages await the field. In addition to Pápoc, the route also touches Szergény, Vöncök and the more than 1,000-year-old Kemenesmagasi roads, from which the competitors also receive special prizes. In the center of Pápoc, the community center provides a special environment for the Parc Ferme and the award ceremony, and the area around the Seniors’ Club provides a perfect service park for the teams and a location for the competition office. Competitors can enter in motorcycle, quad, Ultimate, Stock, Challenger, SSV, T4Nat, TH, Truck, UP and RAID categories until April 26 at six o’clock in the evening.
At the race, you can only expect a good atmosphere and lots of adventures, which the competitors and spectators can experience together. There are some easily accessible and now iconic viewing points that are very spectacular and popular, and they open to the public on the Thursday of race week. There, everyone tends to color their driving style a little to the amazement of the spectators, even at the expense of time. – We pay special attention to these points so that everyone is safe and can cheer in a cultured way, since they are part of every selective stage in one direction or another. Since we will have a larger field than usual, there is no reason for the audience to move, because for two days there will be almost continuous activity at the announced viewing points, added Zoltán Garamvölgyi.
At this off-road event, the issue of safety also plays a prominent role, and to help with this, the industry media has produced a publication summarizing safety rules. It contains a lot of general information and requests that the directors want everyone to study and accept. Fans are specifically asked to go only to the designated spectator points and to help the work of the track security by complying with their requests, as well as to pay attention to their fellow human beings, so that no one can place themselves in a place where they can put themselves or the competitors in danger.
– Let’s all mentally join the “inner circle” of those who want to keep the off-road rally going, and we want to see everyone safe even after the race is over! Help Riverside Baja and Hungarian motorsport! asked Zoltán Garamvölgyi.
