Most was the important home event for the CEZ Mali Jawa team as their main sponsor CEZ also are sponsors at the circuit of Most, so there was corporate hospitality with guests coming from all over the Czech Republic.

The meeting was almost called off due to a date clash with the German IDM championship; however Jan Stovicek and Father Libor Kamenicky stepped in and between them hired the circuit and made all the arrangements to make sure the UEM Supermono Cup could go ahead.

As a result we had an excellent programme ahead, a 25 minute untimed session and two 30 minute timed sessions on the Saturday.

Sunday warm up at 10 am and a 10 lap race just after lunch.

All photos by: Zdenek unless otherwise mentioned.

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Libor Jnr. did Friday practice so was already there when we arrived Friday afternoon, Martin due to work commitments did not arrive until much later.

I wasn’t worried about not testing having done a session at Most earlier in the year, and with all the practice time available there would be more than enough time on track.

Libor was jubilant as he had put in his quickest time ever in practice so when Martin arrived later in the evening the two of them boasted about who was the quickest etc - typical brotherly stuff!

We flew into Prague, mid afternoon but somewhere en route from Leeds the baggage had gone astray.

Not just one or two bags, but everyone’s luggage was missing - a major issue not just for all my race equipment, but Harry and Steve’s tents and sleeping equipment was missing too!

So it was in to a hotel for everyone, where the phone in our room rang at 1.30am much to my relief to say the luggage had been delivered. Phew!

Saturday morning was warm and the sun was beating down. First practice was at 10 am, Martin had set the garage up with all three machines in line with work benches and tables etc, it looked very smart.

At the rear of the garage the hospitality area was well stocked with food and drinks and some of the sponsors and guests had already arrived.

Tyre testing earlier in the year meant we had a good idea of set up with the new surface, so we did not expect any problems through practice.

The motor in my bike had been rebuilt and had new piston, con rod and bearing in so I used the untimed session to get as many miles on as possible before going onto full power.

Never an easy thing to do watch everyone come blasting by and not chase after them, but I just stayed out of people’s way and clocked up the mileage.

The good news was on returning to the pits the bike was 100% with no leaks or nasty noises, but I would have to wait until after lunch and the first timed session to see what sort of time I do for qualifying.

Out in the timed session I felt at home and quickly banged in a good time, the bike was handling well, everything was working right so I pitted and made some small suspension adjustments.

I was in third position so far but felt confident I could go quicker, Martin said not to worry about getting pole but I needed to know how quick I could go and still have some reserve for the race.

Back out for a few laps more I pushed a little harder, once again the bike felt good and quicker, my pit board said P1 and that was good enough for me.

Jan arrived and outlined the details of what he would like to see happen over the weekend.

Obviously a good finish but most of all a podium place for the sponsors as the top brass from CEZ were expected; no pressure there then!

Libor was not so lucky however, his machine was sounding a bit sick and leaking oil.

On closer inspection they discovered a crack in the piston so he had quite some work to do before the next session.

Martin had managed to get out for a few laps but he too experienced engine problems, thankfully my engine was sweet as a nut.

Martin and Jan were concerned that I was going to over stress my motor for the race so suggested that I do as little as possible in the second session and save the motor for Sunday.

I wanted to experiment with some carburettor alterations to improve the throttle response, so we agreed to do a few laps, just to test the throttle response.

We had richened the needle but right from the first lap of the session it didn’t feel right - so only one lap later I pitted to make more changes.

My Arai helmets have a removable inner section that you can take out to clean and dry.

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This time we weakened the needle and immediately I could feel the improvement so I pitted and sat out the rest of the session.

Meanwhile Lex and Mark Lawes popped in slightly quicker laps pushing me in to 3^rd place on the grid but it was still front row.

Libor was happy he had gone quicker than his personal best but poor Martin had bad news, his engine needed to a new main bearing. He and Jirka worked right through the night and only got to bed at 5am – three hours later getting up at 8 to finish it off Sunday morning – crazy...

Sunday’s weather report was unclear, some said it was going to rain around lunch time others claimed it would stay dry.

Personally I wanted rain as I was always going to struggle to race with the more powerful bikes, eventhough I could lap as fast, they would out drag me down the straights and hold me up in the corners, nightmare!

I could use rain as an advantage, as it can be a great leveller of performance so I was hoping for rain.

Arriving at the circuit it was already 28 degrees not a good sign, warm up passed uneventfully so we spent the time welcoming guests and generally chatting to everyone.

As race time drew closer more and more guests arrived, I could feel the pressure and expectation building, I was starting to get a little nervous and apprehensive not a bad thing at the end of the day.

Before I knew it, we were lined up on the grid and had done our warm up lap.

I deliberately hadn’t done a practice start as the clutches we use take time to cool down between applications of ‘abuse’.

As the red lights went out I wish I had practiced, it grabbed and the bike wheelied away; I had to shut off for a second and as a result lost the initial drive letting people past from the line.

It’s a long drag to the first turn and one by one I got back past them on the run down there, next I had just to resort to plan ‘B’ a little danger braking…..

Hey presto from 7^th to 3^rd into turn one.

Mark was leading with Lex in hot pursuit, I knew right away I could not let them get away as there would be no chance I could make up too much ground.

We all eased into the race taking a few laps to get warmed up, it’s not my usual race method, as I normally like to get off like a scalded cat and try to break the tow early.

But on this track with Lex and Mark that would be tricky and I didn’t want to show my hand too early; my plan was to hang on best I could and see where their weak points were. The only fault in the plan was that these two have very few weak points!

Lap after lap I followed them round matching their lap times by braking later, cornering harder and staying behind to get a tow up the straight.

As we started lap 8 with two to go, now was the time I had to make my move and put the pressure on, I had practiced seeing if I had the speed from the last turn to the line.

However there was no chance of that, I would have had to pull a gap half way round the last lap to stand any chance.

Backmarkers, love them or hate them, they just seemed to be in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time, then a yellow flag - the combination blocked my planned charge.

Starting the last lap I was right on their rear wheels but at this point I really needed to be infront, to pull the gap.

Time was running out and as we charged down to the last couple of turns the writing was on the wall.

Out of the last turn I was only inches from Lex’s rear Dunlop but he simply pulled away and there was nothing I could do.

Crossing the line, at the end of the race I was only 1.3 seconds behind Mark with Lex in between.

Passing the CEZ hospitality suite they were all waving and shouting, obviously happy.

I was a bit disappointed with third place in the UEM Cup - yet pleased, as first Czech registered rider home, I had given the team something to shout about - the WIN in their Czech Championship!

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