Round six of the Czech Kart Open ran on the weekend of September 11–13 at Fun Arena Cheb and served up two completely different race days. Friday and Saturday belonged to sunshine and a dry track, so qualifying and the first heat went ahead in ideal conditions. On Sunday the weather turned, heavy rain swept across the circuit and lap times jumped by tens of seconds. The second heat and the superfinal were both run in the wet, and plenty of drivers struggled with the conditions. The MS KART Racing Team was represented by five drivers in three categories.
In Baby 60, Samuel Novák gave nobody an inch. In the Czech Championship classification he took pole position, won both heats and the superfinal, and leaves Cheb with another clean weekend. More valuable than the run of wins, though, is how he got there. In the dry he had pace in qualifying and in the first heat that nobody could match, and when the rain arrived on Sunday he went for the win just as confidently. He won the second heat by more than twelve seconds and took the superfinal with twenty-two seconds in hand over the second-placed driver. Handling two days that different without a single slip is rare in a category this closely matched. Cheb was also the final round of this year’s CKO, and Samuel did not lose a single race all season. Six rounds, every heat and every superfinal, P1 each time.
Lubomír Jáchym raced in the AČR Cup classification, and his weekend turned the moment the rain came. In the dry he qualified P9 and finished the first heat P8. On Sunday he showed a completely different face. He won the second heat on the wet track and moved up into the top five of the overall race order among all the drivers in the category. He carried that form into the superfinal and came home P2 in the AČR Cup. In the rain he was clearly the quickest of the AČR Cup drivers, and the silver was well deserved.
Erik Písačka and Josef Barilla lined up in KZ2 Gentleman. Erik was among the quickest drivers in the field from Friday onwards. He closed qualifying P2 and held the same position in the first heat. On Sunday the rain and two penalties cost him a better result, as he finished the second heat P4 and closed the superfinal in the same position. The podium was only just out of reach. Josef Barilla, on the other hand, moved up with every run. After P7 in qualifying he improved to P6 in the first heat, and he put together another good race in the second, crossing the line in fifth. He lost that result in the end to a disqualification for cutting the track. In the superfinal he picked up where he had left off and came home P5, his best result of the weekend.
The busiest category, as always, was KZ2, where more than thirty drivers lined up. Matyáš Kučera spent the whole weekend working his way forward. After P13 in qualifying he finished the first heat P7 and the second, already on a wet track, P6. In the superfinal he showed how well the rain suited him. He ran on the edge of the top five for the whole race, holding third and fourth place, and crossed the line fourth. He did not make the final results, however, as he was disqualified. The pace he showed in the superfinal deserved a far better ending.
From Cheb the team takes away a perfect weekend for Samuel Novák, silver for Lubomír Jáchym in the AČR Cup, solid results for Erik Písačka and Josef Barilla, and a reminder that Sunday’s rain in Cheb tested absolutely everyone. Matyáš Kučera drove superbly all weekend and returns next season with a clear target, fighting for a place in the top three.
Thank you to all the drivers, mechanics, partners and families for their support and excellent work.
More photos in the GALLERY.
