It was on April 19, 2001, when the Buggyra Technology Center in Roudnice enjoyed a spectacular show, where Martin Koloc introduced Buggyra 001, a new racing truck as well as Gerd Körber, its pilot. "We consider this year season as the testing one only, and therefore we do not set ourselves any objectives to place in races. In hard conditions of races, we wish primarily to collect as many data as possible and get ready for the next year, in which we would like to run for the champion," put on record the boss of a stable, which was the first purely private one having entered the world of truck formula one. The last year proceeded exactly according to Koloc's words. Gerd did not pass the finish of almost half of races, however, so many pieces of knowledge and data were collected so that they could be counted in gigabytes.
It is October 19, 2002 - exactly one year and half after the first appearance - and Gerd Körber goes in the Timed Practice of the season's last event, in which it shall be decided between Gerd and Luostarinen, a Finn, on the European champion. Maybe that only few people believed it then, but Martin Koloc's words came true again ! Our team has been preparing for this race with extreme care and attention, and we decided to set into the contest the third truck to support the two first ones. Behind the steering wheel of MK 001, a last year model, "domestic" Roland Rehfeld took place, a Berliner studying the Technical University, who was third in 2001 in the Super Race Truck Category, Group B. His task was to collect data again to allow the optimum setup of Gerd's truck and in the race itself to support team's strategy.
The racing weekend started already on Friday, since the program was tight, days are rapidly getting shorter, and on Sunday, early in the evening, a closing ceremony with the announcement of total results was waiting for all. By that time, everything had to be clear.
Firstly, both divisions got down jointly to testing practices. However, our colors went badly at all! David crashed, immediately in the third lap on the lower end of one turn, by the right side of his truck into a huge pillar of tires. Nevertheless, he did not smell a rat that the pillar was filled with concrete inside. The impact was so strong that the front axle broke totally and it came off with the wheel. It was clear that Friday's practices were over for David. Moreover, his left arm ached, since it got a shock from the steering wheel. It did not take a long time, and something similar happened to Gerd as well. Fortunately, his truck was not as damaged as David's vehicle, and so Gerd could - though with a minor delay - to go into the first free practice. He won it with his typically consummate skill, when he was before the second Luostarinen by more than one second. Roland was an agreeable surprise, when he was fifth with almost two seconds of lead before Matějovský. In the second free practice, both championship candidates swapped their places. Roland came sixth, but again he was faster than Matějovský.
In the evening, mechanics were in a rush, since they continued to repair David's vehicle. However, they had to make a pause in their work, because they had to wait till one o'clock after midnight for new spare parts. Just before the daybreak, they took few hours of sleep. However, none of them foretasted that their toilsome work was almost in vain
The thing was that, in the morning awakening, David was missing in the depot, which went, early in the morning, with Petr Marek to Teplice's hospital for surgical examination. David could not sleep all night long due to great pains, and his left arm was becoming more and more swollen. So, the blue Buggyra with number 16 stayed during the third free practice in pits. Heavy rain overruled this free practice and it was grist to Gerd's mill. He went the fastest lap and so raised team's mood. Luostarinen on the second place was four tenths of second behind Gerd. Roland went also excellently, when he came again fifth.
Time went by as runaway horse and the Timed Practice loomed up. All team members impatiently waited for news of David's injury. Finally, a phone ring announced Petr's call, but his information was a crusher: "He has his arm in plaster, he has two splint bones broken!" Therefore, this year season ended for David unhappily and ahead of schedule. However, he stood to win his sixth place and it was not worth risking any further complications. At that time, the official chronometer deducted from his sixty-minutes limit, which he had available for the Timed Practice. Even the rain stopped and the sun flashing from behind clouds together with strong wind dried the track quickly. Gerd was in lead for a long time, but some 20 minutes before the end, the Helvetian Bösiger occupied the first position. Soon, the Frenchman Ferté replaced Gerd on the second place. Our pilot had a stop in pits and watched everything on the, as well as Luostarinen did. Both they got into their trucks to try improve their standings. To our bad luck, only the Finn succeeded, who even gained the pole-position. Gerd, after all his effort, remained on the fourth position. Roland and Matějovský were jostling each other for the sixth place, but this time, Roland lost to Matějovský for the first time.
The Sunday's warm-up suggested that both top European championship candidates got out of their beds into the decisive day on the right side. They took turns at leading, but after 15 minutes the result was more advantageous for Luostarinen. Roland delivered perfect performance; he went in for the Sunday's races with FIA Commission's and other pilots' approval with David's truck. He reached the fourth best time and knocked down not only Matějovský, but also both pilots of Deutsche Post's stable - Bösiger and Ferté.
However, terrible bad luck met Roland in the Qualification Race. Even in the warm-up lap, the differential gear of his Buggyra "went to pieces", and so he forfeited any fights on his domestic circuit even before the green light signal. On the contrary, Luostarinen went on best. He took a lead immediately and he maintained this minor lead in seven following laps remaining to the finish. Gerd had after the start a collision with Fertém, but fortunately, he got to the third place behind Bösiger. His effort to move up was stopped by a puncture in his radiator. It was a wonder that he managed to travel the entire race with this handicap and to gain points for the third place. Even he was behind the Helvetian by one half of second only. In pits, it was revealed that his Buggyra's engine withstood without cooling by miracle only. Mechanics produced then a perfect show for spectators, when they replace the engine-gearbox assembly in a trice. Gerd was losing five points behind Luostarinen before the last race in 2002! Only the greatest optimist believed that Gerd would gain the championship title.
Bösiger started best into the cup race, behind which Luostarinen set in, closely followed by Gerd. In the second lap, Gerd raided Luostarinen and moved up to the second place. During subsequent laps he breathed down Helvetian's neck and it seems that he was able to overtake him as well. However, Bösiger always speeded up at the crucial moment. In contrary, Luostarinen continued to lose and after eight laps he withdrew from the race due to a break-down. The path to the championship title was opened and Gerd finally came first in the last race of the year. The thing was that Bösiger was penalized after the finish by twenty seconds for his speeding and he fell down to the fourth position behind Albacete and Ferté, his teammate. Roland came behind Matějovský on the sixth place.
This weekend did not start well for us, but finally we could rejoice at a great success. Martin Koloc's stable gained the most valuable trophy and achieved the greatest success in the history of the Czech truck racing sport. The total sixth place of David is also super, considering he is a novice in the royal division of Super Race Trucks.
