Most – This and That

04. September 2008Compared to last year there was a downright relaxed atmosphere in Most last weekend. As expected, Markus Bösiger and David Vrsecky were rather predominant on the home circuit of their Buggyra team. And there was also the fact that the only pilots, who would have been able to stand up to them, were not exactly spoilt by Fortuna. On Saturday Jean-Philippe Belloc ended up in the crash barriers when he collided with Egon Allgäuer, and on Sunday he had the bad luck that he could not start at the final race because of engine troubles which had been underestimated at first. Antonio Albace’s MAN was put out of action due to a torn sensor cable, but the most ill-starred guy of the weekend was Jochen Hahn for whom Sunday was disastrous. In the Qualy race the left front wheel of his truck burst with a loud bang. Because of this incident he had to start the Championship race from the back of the grid, together with Albacete. Already on the first hundred metres the two MAN pilots charged through the field of their slower opponents. While the Spaniard got through relatively unscathed, Jochen Hahn was forced off the track, skidded over the grass and crashed into another MAN truck. He came to a halt on an extremely dangerous spot right in the middle of a left-right turn, with the rear end of the truck still partly on the tarmac. It was inexplicable to all observers standing nearby why the race wasn’t stopped.
As a result of this new constellation suddenly other pilots were in the foreground. The young Englishman Chris Levett advanced on 4th und 5th positions, but it was Markus Altenstrasser who gave us a real surprise. The Austrian, dressed in the colours of Frankie Vojtisek’s Czech Renault team, even achieved a podium place on Sunday.
The chiefly cheerful atmosphere could be partly attributed to the weather – in this regard the truck racers were not really spoilt so far – and to the completely new asphalted and considerably extended paddock. Everything passed off there rather relaxed.
Furthermore, two thirds of the track had been paved with a new ‘fast’ tarmac. So it was hardly surprising that most of the trucks were 2 – 3 seconds faster than last year. Next year the works on the circuit will be completed, and then they plan to proceed with the pit building and the press centre.
And then we had a surprise guest, “Mr. Truck Racing“ Gerd Körber. For the first time after his resignation at the beginning of the season the several-time European Champion was present at a truck racing event, and you could feel that he was itching to participate. And indeed, on Sunday he changed into his racing suit and climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck Vrsecky had driven the previous year – but only to chauffeur several Czech politicians over the circuit at racing speed.