Figure driving
- Facts about Magam Trophy 2012: Time: 1st - 5th May
- 12th edition (from 2001)
- 10 stages, including one at night
- 2 classes: Extreme (any winches) and Adventure (electric winches only)
- 38 teams: 28 in Extreme Class and 11 in Adventure Class
- International participants: Poles, Latvians, Germans, Swedes
Magam Trophy is a rally " amateurish" - no licences are needed to participate. But definitely it can not be called " for amateurs". Participating teams are real off-road professionals - creme de la creme of this category not only from Poland but also from abroad. The cars have to be specially prepared for the rally, the standard 4x4 car has nothing to do with it. The competition is very spectacular, so much appreciated by gathered on the route fans.
This year the competition began with the honourable start in the centre of Miastko. We would like to thank the town authorities, which were very well-disposed to our participants. There were no prologue, so the cars went straight to the starting point of the Stage 1. Stage 2, taking place at night, was the real challenge. The obstacles, which even in the daylight weren't easy, at night became extremely difficult. The headlights' beams lit the darkness every now and then. It couldn't forgo without spectacular turn overs - we awarded Zbigniew Peczyński and Łukasz Hołuj the first place in this category. They fell from the long slope and then, without hesitating, went further. The absolutely perfect ending to the competition was the last boggy trial, that kept some teams for many hours.. Wednesday was a day of rest. For this day we planned only one loop, which had to be overcome twice.
On the route there was only one but long trial. During the consecutive days there were another struggles on the traverses, muds and meadows. The numerous Latvian teams were very good at it. Most of them emphasized that bog was their strong point. It appeared they could be very effective in this conditions - the right choice of way and very calm drive let them overcome big wetlands without using the winch! (one of the teams left the gear turned on and pushed the car). The sixth prize in the general classification for the team of Nikolajs Boicovs and Gatis Vidins on the totally unknown area should be considered very successful. In there weren't such a difficult traverses on the route the results surely would have been much better. The ride along the slope turned out to be the difficult point for the Swedish team of Bengt Sigelholt and Jesper Nicklasson, too. They overcame the muds and uphill routes without any troubles, but they avoided the trials with traverses. Obviously the insufficient car preparation was the main problem here - the quite high Wrangler is easy to overturn. The Germans presented themselves very interesting, but this time they had the very bad luck. Despite bringing the new car parts the teams struggled more with the car breakdown then with the other competitors.
In the Extreme Class, one of the best teams in our country: Marcin Łukaszewski and Magdalena Duhanik had set the tone. They overcame the trials much quicker then other participants and they don't do it in the risky and daring way but very well-considered and harmonious. The precise choice of the route on the traverses aroused fans' and competitors' admiration. It happened that the attempt to follow their way ended up with... turnover. Artur Owczarek and Roman Popławski tried to tread on theirs heels, but the almost 3 hours and a half of advantage on the finishing point says for itself. The third place on the podium was taken by Robert Kufel and Dominik Samosiuk. Big applause was due to Wojciech Poręba who made his debut at Magam Trophy. He had a great chance for the place on the podium, unfortunately, at the last stage he turned the car over. He came out quite quickly from this accident, but a little bit further his engine broke and couldn't be started for a long time.
In the Adventure Class there were at least three candidates for the main prize. The leadership varied between Arek Szamszon, Remek Moenert and Tomasz Zygarlicki. Unfortunately, it couldn't go without technical problems and finally the last of them won.
For more information you are welcome to visit our website www.magamtrophy.pl . You can find there the detailed relations from every day of the competition, the comprehensive photos gallery, the results and the movies.