Australian rider Andrew Houlihan is setting himself for the toughest test of this year’s FIM Baja World Cup in Hungary this weekend.
Lying between the mountainous region of Bakony and Lake Balaton, the course for the Hungarian Baja is a special one, navigating through the largest active military shooting range in Central and Eastern Europe, where military helicopters and tanks are not an uncommon sight.
The Albury-based KTM rider, who has backing from Speedcafe, currently leads the veteran’s class of the World Cup and sits an impressive third overall in the open 450cc class.
He cemented his position with solid results in the last round in Spain, despite re-injuring his shoulder and dumping his bike in a major water crossing.
“I have been working pretty hard on my fitness and getting myself back in ‘working order’ since injuring my shoulder in the last event in Aragon,” said Houlihan.
“It should be a little cooler than it was in Spain, but it is still shaping up as possibly the toughest event of the year.
“Racing through a live military range is going to be pretty interesting and should provide us with some pretty cool images for the scrapbook.”
The field for this weekend’s event is one of the deepest of the season with Slovakian Stefan Svitko, a time-10 Dakar starter, starting as one of the favourites.
Svitko finished second overall at Dakar in 2016 and will be comfortable in the local Hungarian terrain.
Despite disappointment at the recent Baja Spain Aragon, Dubai rider Mohammed Al-Balooshi (KTM) still leads the provisional motorcycle classification by 14 points from Kawasaki rider David Megre with Houlihan another two points further back in third.
The FIM Bajas World Cup has eight events but only the best six results will count at the end of the season.
With Al-Balooshi in his sights, Houlihan traveled 15,655km from his hometown to race at the Hungarian Baja.
Tomorrow the event continues with a 9.47km Prologue to give the starting order, followed by two loops of 52.67km and 57.99km, respectively, for a total of 221.32km.
On Saturday riders will compete on a course of 245.60km that is divided into two runs through two loops.
In total, the Baja is 633.37km long and includes 466.92km of special stages..
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