The stage before last from the Romanian Off Road Championship took place last month, close to the town of Targul Neamt. The categories of the competition were Auto Open, Extreme as well as Moto and Quad. Shortly, the competition would have been easily qualified by the feeling of a friendly meeting, increased difficulty on the tracks as well as an outstanding trial section.
Thursday was set as the scheduled date of the arrival, as well as the first surprise. The accommodation was to be at the Neamt Monastery. The second surprise of the evening would be the drastically reduced number of members who participated in the competition, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing due to the transformation of the competition from Championship stage into a little more than a friendly gathering.
Friday morning announced the start of a small prologue stage on a river stream and a number of hills in order to adequately establish the starting order, and then.. start. The overall track was excellent , through forests and hills, made difficult by the already famous mud of this particular stage.
The competition, taking place in a special part of the mountains, followed the trails of one of Romania's most important novels, down to the last detail, recreating the feeling of exploration that the makers of the movie by the same book had.
Open class was presented with 25 kilometers and three special stages, while Extreme had 80 kilometers and one single special stage. On the Open class, a grand total of three cars finished the day, as the whole section was very technical, which meant that good quality wheels as well as a strong winch made the difference between passing through and getting stuck. Problems arising regarded the roadbook, due to a number of contestant's terra trips which have not been properly calibrated. The most noticeable casualty was Extreme class car driven by Fiko Istvan, which burst into flames in the special stage.
During the second day, the tracks were interchanged, and it had been proven that Extreme class had quite a bit of work on the tracks which previously were taken by the open class only one day before. The three special stages proved to be spectacular for the extreme class and managed to show the importance of team work as well as that of knowing your own car.
One of the most notable achievements of the day was that of Craiu who managed to reduce the difference of 50 penalty points due to missing a checkpoint , getting back into first place on this second day of the race. On the open class, the effort was just as important, finding three Suzuki Samurais on the top three positions, having in view that over half of the contestants had serious penalties for not finishing the track, for both Open and Extreme Classes.
Sunday, after the sunny days made sure that the contest goes smoothly. Sunday was the time of rains on the trial section. The stage consisted of a river followed by a series of deepening ravines and a section through the forest. The difficult trial section found cars, bikes and quads stuck in the mud and forcing or winching themselves out but everyone managed to finish and go home after a proper adventure.
Radu Tudoroiu
Radu Tudoroiu is a photographer and an editor for 4x4 Off Roads and other publications as well as an off-road enthusiast. Radu lives in Romania.
