Miloslav Janachek: “We are happy only when we are driving!”

Miroslav Zapletal and Miloslav Janachek have already met with russian competitors on the route: during the United Kingdom Baja Competition they managed to get the first place; Boris Gadasin and Alexander Mironenko got the second place that time. But in Russia the Czech sportsmen are newcomers...

M.Janachek: This is our first visit to Russia. First snow experience and special winter tires. We like it very much! Winter rally-reids are completely different from other rallies... slippery and very fast. We had a speed about 100 km/h and it is a high speed that can be really dangerous. In the technical point of view the car is not so comfortable, it is of too short dimensions. But for us it is rather good. Speed is not so important for us... The best one is not who has a high speed. We like to get a new experience. If we are at home for more than one week – we become nervious... But when we are driving – we are happy!

How long have you been driving together?

Last year on the International Baja Cup we got the third place. We participate about 15 times per year in competitions in Hungary, in the European Baja Championship etc. Many times we participated in the competitions on the different route surface: sand, gravel, asphalt. First time we are on a snow rally.
Usually we like all the competitions. In Russia you can see a lot cars of a high qaulity, which are compete with each other. We have no our car with us here (it is on the way back from Saudi Arabia), we had to rent a car. We just came back from Saudi Arabia where the first stage of World Baja Cup took place – Hail Saudi Baja.    

Why did you decide to participate in “Northern Fores”t Rally? Did you know some of the russian sportsmen before and somebody invited you to participate? Or you just have heard something about this Rally?

I have already known this Competition for 3-4 years. I am not only a sportsman, but also a journalist. I am publishing the Off-Road Magazine and I have written reports on this event before. Last year we wanted to participate in this Baja. But “Northern Forest” goes just after Dakar Rally. In 2007 we participated in Dakar. But this year Dakar Rally was cancelled and we decided to come to Russia.

Are you going to continue the fight for the first positions? Or you will just train and parctise on
icy routes? 

We would like to keep the current position. It is impossible to have a better position with our car... The third or the forth position are completely good for us. 

Interview by Olga Zhuravleva
Photo: Alexander Lesnikov, Andrey Chursinov