Report: Round 11 and 12 of the European BMX Racing Cup, Venice nad Jizerou

Tobias Bleier, Vít Novotný, Oliver Miltner, Vít Stloukal, Vít Gruntorád, Viktor Oldřich Chudoba, Jakub Cidlinský, Jakub Vesecký, Marek Neužil, Elen Lapková and Eliška Bartuňková stood at the start of the race from the riders of the Czech Talent team and BMX Representation. Sabina Košárková did not present herself in Venice, as she defended her world title in Pumptrack in Switzerland. She defended her title, becoming a two-time world champion in this discipline!

In Saturday's 11th round of the EP, junior Viktor Oldřich Chudoba performed best, rising to the bronze rank of his category. Junior Elen Lapková narrowly missed out on the bronze medal, so she had to settle for fourth place. Eliška Bartuňková took sixth place in the Women Elite category. An unfortunate mistake from the advanced position cost Marka Neužil a place among the TOP 8, which unfortunately even junior Vít Gruntorád, who rode excellently at the weekend, did not make it.

Sunday's final round of this year's EP went much better for Neužil and Lapková. Neužil was supreme throughout the day, then in the final he found one conqueror, and thus took second place among men Under 23. Elen improved by one place and reached the coveted podium. Unfortunately, Chudoba, Gruntorád and Bartuňková did not make it to the finals. Vít Stloukal had a nasty fall and injured his arm. Bleier, Vesecký, Novotný, Cidlinský and Miltner performed fighting performances, which unfortunately were not enough for the top ranks.

In the other categories, the final races were full of Czech drivers. On Saturday, the winner of the Boys 14 category was Dominik Ráliš. He was not the only Czech representative at the start of the final, he was joined by fourth Adam Peterek, fifth David Lapka and seventh Matyáš Krnáč. The winner was also Jiří Luska, who in the final of the Boys 11 category was joined by silver Tomáš Souček, fourth Markus Grund, fifth Lukáš Šenkeřík and seventh Matyáš Karel Klapetek. Other winners were Jiří Kabriel in the Boys 13 category and Tomáš Haluza, followed by Tomáš Merta in second place among men 25+. The last Czech winner on Saturday was Sebastián Štěpánek, who won the Boys 8 category, in which Mathias Miškovič finished third and Maxmilián Čajnák finished eighth.

In the Cruiser 45+ category, Robert Boček placed second, Radomír Huf fourth and Pavel Smrček seventh. In the Cruiser 40/44 category, Jakub Skřejpek finished second, Viktor Karlík third, Martin Suchánek seventh and Lubomír Gebauer eighth. Karel Štantejský took fifth place among Cruisers 30/39. Girls 8/9 and four Czech representatives, namely third Laura Tejmarová, fifth Beáta Libánská, seventh Zuzana Čubanová and eighth Tereza Gebauerová. Radim Průcha took second place and Jakub Novák eighth in the Boys 9 category. We had three Czech representatives in the Girls 10 category, namely Denisa Tománková, bronze, Magdaléna Horáková, seventh, and Natália Kašparová, eighth. In Boys 10, Max Roškot was second, Kryštof Dvořák fourth and Dominik Semenyšín eighth. Girls 11/12 and another trio of Czech representatives, namely fourth Rubiana Hošková, fifth Markéta Ficová and sixth Nelly Skřejpková. The trio of Czechs was also seen in the finals in the Boys 12 category, where Denis Krejší finished second, Vít Rekl third and Miroslav Dreiseitl seventh. Girls 13/14 and again a trio of Czech representatives consisting of fifth Petra Dreiseitlová, sixth Sára Kalábová and eighth Barbora Maarová. Štěpánka Fremlová placed silver among girls 15/16, and Kristýna Utínková placed bronze among women 17+. The last finalist was local Lukáš Vesecký, who took fifth place in the Men 17/24 category.

Sunday's Challenge category race was in a very similar spirit, i.e. with a large number of Czech drivers in the final races. Five competitors took the top spot. Matěj Novák won in the Boys 8 category, where he was joined by fifth Mathias Miškovič, sixth Jan Novák and seventh Filip Martini. Jiří Luska followed up on his Saturday victory among 11-year-old boys, Tomáš Souček repeated his silver placing, and the local Marek Nehoda joined them on the podium. Matyáš Karel Klapetek finished sixth and Tadeáš Vlk eighth. Tomáš Haluza won again in the Men 25+ category and Tomáš Merta finished third this time. Jakub Skřejpek improved by one place and thus became the winner among Cruisers 40/44, where he was joined by Viktor Karlík with bronze and Lukáš Gebauer in sixth. The last winner of Sunday's race was once again Robert Boček, followed by Radomír Huf in fifth place and Pavel Smrček in sixth place.

In the category Girls 8/9, Laura Tejmarová placed third, Zuzana Čubanová fifth and Beáta Libánská sixth. Jakub Novák reached fifth place in the Boys 9 category, and Radim Průcha finished eighth after falling from first place. Girls 10 and fourth Denisa Tománková, sixth Magdaléna Horáková and eighth Natálie Kašparová. In the Boys 10, Max Roškot became the second again, who was joined in the final by local Albert Kohoutek in fourth place and Dan Čížek in eighth. In the Girls 11/12 category, Markéta Ficová placed sixth and Rubiana Hošková seventh. Denis Krejčí took fourth place among Boys 12, Vít Rekl seventh and Miroslav Dreiseitl eighth. Sára Kalábová placed fourth and Barbora Maarová eighth in the Girls 13/14 category. Jiří Kabriel had to leave the top spot to his opponent and took second place in Boys 13, Daniel Vejchoda seventh and Benjamin Fojtík eighth after a fall. Five Czech riders took the start of the Boys 14 category and Matyáš Krnáč finished second, Štěpán Havelka fifth, Dominik Ráliš sixth, Alan Pětioký seventh and David Lapka eighth. Kristýna Utínková repeated her bronze position in the Women 17+ category, Lukáš Vesecký improved by one place and took fourth place among men 17/24 and Karel Štantejský finished second in the Cruiser 30/39 category.

We are now waiting for the autumn part of the Sazko Czech Cup. You can look forward to going to Brno-Liskovce this weekend and to Pardubice at the end of September.