Thrilling Octavia battles, former minister among the winners

The climax of the Česká pojišťovna – Škoda Octavia Weekend 2009 at the Most Motor Racing Circuit was, as usual the Sunday racing programme. The main races of the Octavia Cup and the sprint of the royal Division 4 of passenger cars over 2 litres in particular were a real treat. The spectators keenly watched the second race of superracekarts as well, their experience boosted by the pleasant, sunny weather.

It was these bonneted karts that brought a real thrill. As many as eight of these miniature, incredibly fast vehicles can fit on the race track side by side. Combined with the equal power of quarter-litre engines,this means considerably greater opportunities for fights and dramatic overtaking manoeuvres. This time the German, Peter Elkman won before his countryman and the winner from Saturday, Guido Kleinemeyer. Another racer from Germany, Martin Knauder took third place.
The first race of the Octavia Cup was, as usual very even, after seventeen laps the winner was Aleš Jirásek who started from the pole position. Second place was taken by the young Polish racer Mateusz Lisowski and third by veteran František Došek. For the start of the second race according to the new rules the sequence of the first eight racers was reversed, which further increased the thrill. Lisowski faced up to the situation the best, and won. The next to see the chequered flag was Jirásek, and third place belongs to Milan Vaňkát.
There was no risk of boredom in Division 4 either, as Sunday was, in the name of sprint races divided into capacity classes below and over two litres. The race below 2000cc was won by the sovereign ruler of qualification, the Slovak Filip Sládečka in an Alfa Romeo ahead of Robert Pláteník in his Fabia and Šimon Kubišta in an Audi A4 specification Supertourismo. The "big" cars then went for the sprint with more or less expected results. It was clear that once again the three specials from DTM would be in the front. The only surprise was Stefan Mücke in a Mercedes and Thed Björk in an Audi, who gave up due to technical difficulties during the ten-lap race. The first was Antonín Charouz in a Mercedes, the second was Dan Michl in a vehicle of family design with an Opel engine, and the third was former Minister of Industry and Trade Milan Urban in an attractive Lamborghini Gallardo.
Sunday's last race was Division 3, o.e. free formulas with engines up to 1400 cc. The Van Diemen monoposto with an engine from a Kawasaki bike is the king here. Zbyněk Passer won it, followed by David Palmi, who drives a formula of the same design, but with a Skoda engine. The third was Tomáš Kašpárek with a formula Mygale F BMW.
"Sunday can be regarded in clearly positive terms," commented the director of the Most Motor Racing Circuit, Michal Marek. "Unlike yesterday, the weather was wonderful, and yesterday's tensions among racers cooled down. There were minimum incidents, vehicle rescue intervened just once, when one formula stopped on the track with a dead engine. There were quite a few spectators and I think in the crowd above the Careca bend, nobody could complain about the experience. The performance of the racers in the Octavia Cup should be appraised. Aleš Jirásek was a real hero of the races. The circuit is going to host a number of private test events, namely motorcycles and in three weeks' time we're having another championship, to which I'd like to invite all motor sport fans," added Marek.

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