PLAGUED BY MECHANICAL ISSUES IN VALENCIA, ONDŘEJ VOSTATEK EARNS HIS FIRST POINTS AT ALBACETE

On 23 April 2017, Ondřej Vostatek took his place at the starting line as a Pre-moto3 rookie for the first time this season at the CEV championship race in Spain. A week later, he also introduced himself as one of the youngest riders of the Honda 250 NSF standard in the first race of the Europe Talent Cup for the FIM CEV Repsol junior world championship.

Ondřej arrived in Spain on Wednesday, 19 April, and began getting ready for the first race of the season the very next day with his ETG Racing team. The entire practice was accompanied by sunny yet cool weather. Thanks to the excellent collaboration of his team, Ondřej was able to push himself just a little further with each practice, and gradually improved his finish times. In the qualifications, he was among the best Pre-moto3 rookies, and earned himself 15th place on the starting grid. He got off the line well, and was able to move several positions forward. He continued to gain ground, and immediately began an attack to better his position. Unfortunately, at the end of the first lap, he began to unexpectedly drop back, and was forced to withdraw from the race due to a technical fault in the gearshift during the second lap.

Ondřej Vostatek said:

"I was very disappointed... I felt great, and we were able to set up the perfect configuration for the motorcycle. I advanced straight away, and I knew that I had a great chance at battling with the leading group. But I began to fall behind, and that was the end of it. I tried to continue to ride in the second lap, but it wasn't possible.... It happens sometimes, unfortunately, and there's nothing you can do about it. The only thing we can do now is forget about it as soon as possible, and start focusing on future races."

This was followed by two days off and a relocation to Albacete for the FIM CEV Repsol Europe Talent Cup. Their arrival in Albacete was accompanied by bad weather. It had begun to rain, and the temperature dropped to a mere 8 degrees for every single practice and qualification session. During training, Ondřej gained greater confidence in the wet, and was gradually able to improve his time by six seconds. In the qualifications, he managed to earn 15th place on the starting grid on the day of the race, the rain ceased and the weather grew warmer. This meant that everyone needed to alter their motorcycle configurations at the last moment because the track was not completely dry, even after the warm-up. By the time the racers lined up, it was dry and sunny.

Unfortunately, after his unsuccessful start in the first race, Ondřej fell back into second-to-last place. Then a race-long chase began. Ondřej made up for the time he had lost, and was able to battle his way to 14th place, in which he ultimately finished the race.

His start in the second race was again less than ideal, and Ondřej was forced to make up for his loss in position once again. But he managed to pull it off, and finished this race in 14th place as well, thus chalking up his first 4 points for the season.

After the races, Jan Vostatek said:

"Unfortunately, things didn't go the way we had hoped... We had some bad luck in Valencia. In Albacete, the weather played against us, and Ondřej wasn't able to capitalise on all of his potential in the race. Still, this was a highly valuable experience for us. Ondra had the opportunity to train for 3 days in the wet, something with which he doesn't have as much experience on this motorcycle. He improved as time went on and gained confidence. There were other things that came up that we still need to improve upon and incorporate into future races. So, ultimately, I see this as a positive experience, and I believe that we'll do better in our next races. I would also like to praise the entire team for a job well done and thank all of our partners and fans for all of their support."