Last weekend, the first stage of this year's Lithuanian Baja Perimetras was held in Švenčionys and Pabradė areas. The CFMOTO Factory Racing Team also participated in this race delegating two ATV pilots and one SXS crew to the race.
The first well-known Pabradė region was waiting for the participants of the Sport class in the first stage. But that didn’t mean the first race of the 2021 Lithuanian season would be easy. The organizers tried to use both - driving and navigation skills in the speed sections, and the CFMOTO Factory Racing Team vehicles added additional challenges to the members of the team.
The failure of the CFMOTO ZFORCE 1000 Sport SXS shuffled the cards for the tandem of Darius Biesevičius and Audronė Kanopkinienė. More precise reasons will become clear after the disassembly of the gearbox, so the team is not yet willing to guess what exactly happened.
Antanas Kanopkinas, who raced in the ATV category, had to forget the fight for the top positions. It cost him an expensive ten minutes to change the CVT belt in the speed section.
"It was going so well, the speed sections were physically difficult, some sections even extremely fast. There were a lot of participants and at the same time competition. This shows that this discipline tends to grow.
It is a pity, but this time a technical fault changed my LEG- I had to change my belt on the track, and the SXS of Darius Biesevičius and Audronė Kanopkinienė crew stopped due to the breakdown. In the coming weeks, we will know exactly what happened, but we suspect that it may have happened through our own fault, ”said Antanas Kanopkinas, who ranks seventh in the final standings.
However, one of the members of the CFMOTO Factory Racing Team, Adomas Gančierius managed to put the team's colors on the podium. The electrician, who drove stably, confidently and avoided navigation errors, won one speed section and finished in the second position in the first stage.
“I am delighted with Adomas result. This shows that he can drive at a very good pace, which allows him to fight for the highest positions, "said Antanas Kanopkinas.
Adomas Gančierius demonstrated a similar result at the Fenix Rally in Tunisia in early March. It was in the Sahara Desert that the CFMOTO Factory Racing Team began the 2021 race season.