Racing in the Czech Rebublic

Racing in the Czech Rebublic

On the 18th June Bob Timmis and his partner, Margaret, flew into Düsseldorf to join Gitta and I on a trip into the Czech Republic to compete in the events at Horice and Dvur Kralove. These two closed public road events are only twenty kilometres from one another and are run on consecutive weekends in order that riders who have travelled a long way can stay over from one event to the other and enjoy the good weather, very modest prices and of course, the Czech beer! We did all these including enjoying the food as well! I have described these circuits before, suffice to say Horice, with a 90 metre height difference each lap and a length of over 5 kilometres, fantastic! Practice took place on the Saturday, two sessions each of six laps. The Sunday race day was marred however by a tragic accident in the sidecar event which resulted in racing being abandoned just before ‘K’ class went out onto the circuit. Monday was packing up and shifting camp the twenty kilometres or so to Dvur Kralove, a small town on the headwaters of the river Elbe, in the foothills of the Riesen Gebirge which reach a height of 1600 metres.

In winter a skiing area, in the summer months very pleasant with lots of café’s etc.! We now had the next two or three days to explore and enjoy this beautiful border area between the Czech Republic and Poland. In Dvur Kralove the paddock is a small campsite very close to the town centre, only a short walk of about five minutes. Our ladies very soon discovered the shops and the prices! Textiles are very cheap indeed, I will not need to buy underpants for a while! The weather remained very kind with rain, a terrific thunderstorm on only one evening. The rest of the time we had temperatures from the middle twenties up to thirty odd degrees, the rain just cooled us down a bit. On Thursday the boys were out putting up barriers and protection, for the already crumbling buildings (?) around the three kilometre circuit. This circuit is completely in the town, fast and very unforgiving. Do not fall off at Dvur Kralove! I counted seven, yes 7(!) grates and manhole covers in one corner alone! Part of the circuit is an avenue where great old trees push the road surface up with their roots, manholes here again too! Another part takes you down and up again through a double ‘S’ bend, with the high buildings of the old town on either side.

Saturday arrived and our two practice sessions went off without a hitch. One or two accidents but nobody hospitalized! Race day dawned, the sun came out and the fun began. It’s usually push start for classics in Czech but at least at Dvor Kralove it’s downhill, not like Horice! Bike started, no problem, just can hardly keep up with that long first gear! So we’re off, sun beating down, tarmac on the melt! Amazing, after 6 laps I cross the line to learn that I’ve scraped fourth place! No laurels I’m afraid but that’s less to carry home! Margaret ‘s comment; this is better than the Isle of Man……we’ll do it all again next year!