ONDŘEJ VOSTATEK FOUGHT FOR THE TOP TEN IN JEREZ!
On Thursday, the riders set out for their first couple of trainings on this beautiful, popular circuit in lovely, but windy, weather. In the beginning, Ondřej and his team tried to figure out the proper settings for his motorbike. However, there were some problems with the engine and, in the end, it needed to be replaced. During Friday's training, Ondra began to improve his times and beat his maximum speed on this circuit last year by more than one second.
In the preliminary round on Saturday, the race started off with a bang. The competitor's similar capabilities and this category's top-notch competition resulted in more than fifteen riders coming within one second of each other at the finish line, with differences of merely thousandths of a second. Ondra made his best time, but it was only enough to earn 19th place. In the second preliminary round, the circuit temperature rose, and under such conditions, only a minimum number of riders were able to improve their times. Ondřej Vostatek was amongst them, staying in second place for most of the round. Eventually, he moved down to eighth place at the end of the round, but after the final sum of rounds, he moved to 15th and improved his position at the start.
Ondra started off perfectly in the first race and gained several positions ahead. However, in the first curve, with the large "huddle" of riders, he got stuck amongst the competitors and was forced to slow down. Unfortunately, he lost the position he gained and returned back to 15th place. Still, he was in the leading group. In the second half of the race, several incidents occurred, and the fifteen-member leading group started to fall apart. Ondřej moved to 13th place and fought for the tenth position. He finally came in 11th.
In the second race, Ondřej started off great again and managed to choose a better track in the first curve. He reached the leading group of riders, which was, once again, large and balanced. He was gradually able to move forward and fought for the eighth position in the group. He achieved the fourth fastest time of the race but unfortunately, he did not succeed in reaching the podium. Ultimately, took 10th place in this race against strong competitors and gained the minimum deficit from the winner.
"This was probably the most difficult race of the season! It's just awesome to watch how many good riders came out. So, it was great and I enjoyed it a lot. We were ahead again, and the podium was so close. Ondra felt well and he loves this circuit a lot. It is just a pity that the circuit surface was not ideal in some places. Such races are simply not ideal for us. In these types of cases, there are huge demands placed on the riders during the race. It is necessary to become resistant to stress, quickly make the right decisions, search and try new possibilities and gain greater self-confidence. Also, it's important not to make the smallest mistakes because the tiniest things are crucial for success. These are the things that you can hardly simulate outside such a quality race. These are the things that can push us forward again. If we are able to improve this a bit, I believe, that Ondra will reach the podium one day," added Jan Vostatek after the race.
