Our world champion can call himself Czech champion for another year. Styby put in a dominant performance in Unicov to secure his sixth national title. Radomir Simunek took silver and Karel Hnik completed the podium.
Styby had a good start and found himself in the lead with Simunek at the end of the first lap. Simunek and Martin Zlamalik, who didn’t as good a start, were supposed to be the biggest threats to Styby’s title hopes.
Simunek did his very best to stay in Styby’s wheel for several laps. It looked as though the race would turn into a duel between the two riders, but after about 25 minutes, Simunek suddenly slowed considerably. The BKCP rider had hit the proverbial well and lost 30 seconds during just one lap.
Zdenek on the other hand didn’t weaken and calmly rode to his way to a sixth Czech title. Simunek, who was joined by Hnik in the closing stages of the race, finished second, but was a good 90 seconds behind our winner. Hnik happily took third.
“I changed my tactics from recent races. I was not too quick at the beginning and I started to feel stronger with each lap," our champion said. "I ended up in front with Simunek and decided to attack in one of the few muddy spots. After that I raced my own race and didn't make many mistakes.”
And he was successful. “I’m really happy to win here in front of my fans. Racing on home soil is always special for me. Now I’m going to focus on the world championships. There are still two races to go, so I can still boost my fitness a bit.”
Next year's Czech championships will take place in Styby's hometown of Stribro. "I'll compete there for sure and will be really motivated to win."