Motor Bike Expo: what a parade of champions at the pre-start of the Africa Eco Race

Motor Bike Expo – Despite the decidedly cold temperature, the pre-start of the race was a great success with the publicAfrica Eco Race set up in the Motor Bike Expo spaces. The Africa Eco Race will start from the Principality of Monaco on Sunday 30 December while the first special will take place in January from Nador, Morocco.

A parade of champions from MBE

Many enthusiasts, young and old, wanted to say goodbye to Alessandro Botturi, Franco Picco, Maurizio Cecconi, Simone Agazzi, Giovanni Moretto, Enrico Peronato, Giampietro Dal Ben, Enzo Tracanzan, Valdimiro Brezzi and all the other riders leaving on December 28th for the preliminary operations of one of the most fascinating races on the calendar. Graziano Scandola and his son Michelangelo, 1,90 meters and 1,88 meters tall respectively, demonstrated to the public that two people can fit inside a small Polaris 1000. There will be more space in the Polaris 1000 Turbo by Paolo Ceci and Sara Bioli, both very thin and curious to demonstrate first of all to themselves and then to all their fans what they will be able to do, for the first time side by side in a race that will cross Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. The two cars in the race belong to the De Lorenzo Gemelli of Padua who have chosen a unique piece, a very powerful BMW X6, equipped with a 10-cylinder engine with a displacement of 8400 cc. A monster that made the walls of the Verona Fair reverberate yesterday when it lit up to travel the two hundred meters of walkway until it reached the public in front of the PalaExpo. The other car is a Nissan Patrol which already took part in the African race last year: the team is from Arezzo and is called Rossi 4×4 because Stefano Rossi is the driver, accompanied by Alberto Marcon who is tackling this type of race for the first time adventure.
Two assistance trucks, both Iveco EuroCargo, sounded their horns to the delight of all the enthusiasts who adore these shows and the vehicles that have participated in rally raids for many years. A real bivouac has been set up inside the fair square since yesterday morning and the Moto Club US Leonessa 1903 has exhibited not only Maurizio Cecconi's Husqvarna but also a real museum with two historic BMWs, which raced in the Dakar of the Eighties as well as a Kawasaki that left in 1992 and 1993 for Paris Cape Town and the Dakar, the last in Algeria, as well as an extraordinary Gilera RC600.
Renè Metge was fascinated and let himself be captivated by all the Italian drivers - many friends who came to say hello such as Giacomo Vismara, Ciro De Petri, Bruno Birbes - who took the opportunity to have something more revealed about the race terrain, about the specials and on the secrets to best face this new edition of the race organized by Jean Louis Schlesser. And as always, Renè Metge didn't have to be asked to wait and was generous with information with everyone.