Czech Grand Prix 2013

full programme

event results

“Hopefully I’ll make it to the podium tomorrow.”

--- Pole position sitter CAL CRUTCHLOW remembering his splendid podium in Brno 2012. Sadly he will crash in the race

Our flagship event never fails to set the standard for all MotoGPs to live up to, both on- and off-track.

This year was remarkable in that it was considered the best race of the season AND the most well-attended event!

Thursday night a group of went to the track for the Insider’s Night. We hung out a lot with Aussie rider Bryan Staring, who showed us his garage and bike. We also met a lot of riders including Marc Marquez, who always astonishes customers with just how sweet and accommodating he is...

he laugh of the evening was good Brazilian customer Francesco who in 2012 won the “Pole Position Travel Customer photo of the year award” when he finally achieved his dream of getting a photo with Valentino Rossi. Unfortunately, his nephew taking the photo with Francesco’s iPhone managed to put his finger over the lens, just perfectly obscuring Vale! We thought it was a great photo -- and so did Rossi tonight when he signed it, laughing as he did so!

Friday was a perfect day at the track. Brno was the venue for our second set of “Cal Crutchlow Experience” customers, and they were not disappointed! A tour of Cal’s garage by his knowledgeable manager Bob was followed by the “goody bags” with the cool new Cal merchandise! (Saturday they will meet Cal himself, with dinner in the paddock)

The evening featured our biggest party of the year - the Charity Gala Evening at the track.

Almost 300 people attended, with live music, dancing, bottomless beer, and several riders; including Brad Binder, Czech Jakub Kornfeil, Gino Rea, rookie Joe Roberts. The highlight of the evening was a charity auction of unique merchandise and experiences; the highlight being a Brno polo shirt signed by 26 riders incuding Rossi, Marquez, Lorenzo, Crutchlow and many more. We were pleased to raise over €5000 for Riders for Health.

Saturday was another stunning day at the track. Our MotoGP Team Experience customers (with Honda Gresini and Cal Crutchlow) were treated to visits to the service road for some very up-close viewing of the action.

And did we pick them?! Taking Pole Position was Cal Crutchlow, and right next to him in the second slot was Gresini’s own Alvaro Bautista! Result!

We had an opportunity to congratulate them personally as two groups enjoyed dinner in the evening at the track, meeting the riders and generally soaking up the atmosphere.

Speaking of soaking up, another charity we support is Down Syndrome Ireland. Aidan and his crew did a madcap 2 day ride to Brno to raise funds for the charity. We rewarded their efforts by taking them and a number of other customers to our favourite micro-brewery Pegas, where we helped to thaw the numb butts!

Sunday dawned threatening rain. Thankfully apart from a few sprinkles during the motogp race, the day remained dry and we were treated to some of the best racing of the year! In Moto3, Luis Salom took a thrilling victory, with our own Jakub Kornfeil taking a respectful 8th, winning in a group of 5 by just 0.1sec.

Moto2 saw our friend, Finn Mika Kallio win a deserved victory. But the high drama occurred in MotoGP. A race-long fight between Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Marquez was reduced to a duel between the two hondas for the final laps. Marc Marquez proved again he is the up-and-coming superstar, getting ahead of Dani Pedrosa and making it stick, to win the race and set a MotoGP record for the most race victories (5) in a rookie season.

Sunday evening concluded with our traditional Moravian Evening in a medieval wine cellar where we learned about Moravian wine making tradition and sampled many of the local vintages. This all washed down plenty of tremendous food! We also got many opportunities to sample the local bubbly -- we had no less than THREE couples attending the MotoGP on their honeymoons!

This year there was no MotoGP Test on Monday as usual; so some of our customers staying the night in Prague were treated to a private tour of some of managing director Gordon’s favourite pubs...

A good time was had by all.

Book next year’s race (at 2013 prices) here.

the biggest and best.

BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC 23-25 AUGUST 2013

Credits:

Gordon Howell (GH) Pole Position travel guide

Marco Chiodi (MC) videographer (creator of the video)

Matt Waugh (MW) Pole Position travel guide

Cormac Ryan Meenan (CRM) Pole Position photographer

Jana Hrstkova (JH) Pole Position travel guide

Roberto Bocchiolo (RB) Pole Position travel guide

Patrick Crawley (PC) Pole Position travel guide

Some reasons to go to the Brno MotoGP

Our event videoblog sums up the fun! (MC)

Slideshow from customer

We were delighted to welcome good customer and sponsor of Jakub Kornfeil, Roman Malcek and REDOX Slovakia

Also very pleased for the attendance and support of sponsors of BRAD BINDER, Gavin Ball and Rural Liquid Fertilisers. They also donated generously to the Riders for Health auction.

The Last Dance at the Brno opening party. Perfect venue, perfect weather, perfect beer, perfect music. No one wanted to leave...

We were proud to be sponsors of Gino Rea. He had come from a series of wildcard rides to join a Czech team, Broz Racing, for the remainder of the season. He didn’t have a great weekend, but well done for his first time out! We will be buying the champagne when he gets his first point.