The first round of the Czech Off-road National Championship took place this last weekend at a nice track in Ceske Budejovice. Almost 50 drivers came from all over the country to the first race of this season, and most everyone came with a new car to get the best performance. Team XRAY had already acquired the 2005 National title, so a lot of expectations were placed on the team again and as well the competition was preparing not to make it any easier. The great performance â“ and also durability â“ results of XB8 during last year convinced many hesitant drivers, and therefore it was not a surprise when more than 50% of the participants at this first National race were racing an XRAY buggy.
The weather was friendly the entire weekend so everybody could enjoy plenty of track time. The track started to get holes pretty soon and it made the racing more difficult and demanding; drivers had to change and accomodate their set-ups as the day progressed.
Already in the first qualificiers the favorites showed their performance and set the pace. At the end it was Martin Bayer who was the only driver to set 20 laps qualification thus securing him TQ position and direct final starting position. The second direct final position was achieved by his younger brother, Ales Bayer.
All the other drivers were re-sorted in two semi-finals and the best 4 of each bumped to the main final. After the two semi-final runs the starting positions for the main final race was:
1. BAYER Martin â“ XRAY XB8TQ
2. BAYER Ales â“ XRAY XB8TQ
3. PATER Martin â“ XRAY XB8TQ
4. KLATOVSKY Petr â“ XRAY XB8TQ
5. JURENKA Miroslav â“ XRAY XB8TQ
6. BOK Michal â“ XRAY XB8TQ
7. KAPICKA Jan
8. ZEMAN Lukas â“ XRAY XB8TQ
9. MILOWSKY Martin
10. CERVENKA Jaroslav â“ XRAY XB8TQ
(click to enlarge)
In the main final Martin Bayer pulled away from the pack and set a leading pace and did not give anyone else a chance. The main competition was between the 2ndâ“4th positions where the drivers were changing their positions all the time making the race exciting and thrilling. It was great racing when after the whole final race all the three drivers fighting for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions finished on the same lap (57 laps), only 1 lap behind winner Martin Bayer (58 laps) !
The final results of the first round of Czech Off-road National Championship 2006:
1. BAYER Martin â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
2. PATER Martin â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
3. BOK Michal â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
4. KLATOVSKY Petr â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
5. JURENKA Miroslav â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
6. BAYER Ales â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
7. ZEMAN Lukas â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
8. MILOWSKY Martin
9. KAPICKA Jan 10. CERVENKA Jaroslav â“ XRAY XB8-TQ
