A track record was set at the Slovak circuit. Kalina celebrated his 70th birthday with a victory

STARÉ MĚSTO – Last weekend, Staré Město hosted the largest motorcycle race in the Zlín Region, Slovácky Okruh 2024, with the subtitle About the Milan Šobán Sr. Prize. The jubilee twentieth year offered a great spectacle to all fans of one track in ideal weather.

After the Saturday training sessions and the Sunday race, the organizers did not hide their enthusiasm. “We are extremely satisfied with the course of the entire weekend. We had 245 motorbikes registered, which is the most in the three years that we have been organizing the Slovak Circuit. The weather was luxurious and the spectator zones were packed to bursting. On Sunday, over three thousand paying, i.e. adult, spectators came, with children it could be up to five thousand. There were falls, but no major injury. This year, in short, it came out on top,” praised Petr Chmelař from the organizer Motoklub Staré Město.

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A new record was set

Already in Saturday’s practice, the German competitor David Datzer set a new unofficial record of the Old Town track in the Superbike category, when he set a time of 1:32:03. “In Sunday’s race, he was half a second faster, exactly 1:31:05, he set a new official track record and became the recipient of the Milan Šobán Sr. Award,” revealed Petr Chmelař.

Currently the best Czech road racing driver Veronika Hankocyová had a slight fall and did not finish the race, Petr Chmelař and his partner René Andrýsk took silver in the sidecar category. “We had major technical problems, it was exciting whether we would even reach the finish line. In the end, it turned out great,” Petr Chmelař rejoiced.

The organizers have prepared a very attractive surprise for the spectators of this year’s race. On Saturday and Sunday, a historic sidecar from 1938 with an output of approx. 30 horsepower, as well as the most modern sidecar of the F1 category with an output of 140 horsepower and a maximum speed of around 250 km/h, took to the track. The two machines are separated by almost 80 years, and at first glance it was clear how huge a leap technology had made.

Seventy-year-old Kalina defeated all younger opponents

It was on Sunday, May 5 that the legendary Old Town rider Karel Kalina celebrated his seventieth birthday. And the celebration was really stylish: he started in two categories and took the top step in the one under 250 cm³.

“But it was nerves. We couldn’t start the bike, so I had to go to the mechanic’s depot, where we finally managed to get it going. But the other riders were already in the warm-up lap, so I started from the last place,” described the dramatic situation of the veteran, who in the end beat all the rivals in his category – and all the younger ones. “At the beginning of June, we have a race in the Slovak Kopčany,” but he confirmed immediately after the Kalina race that he is far from retiring from motorcycling.