American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 251 June 2020 | Page 24

CZ Custom GP International Custom Bike Show,
Brno, Czech Republic, March 5-8, 2020
Words and Pictures
by Onno Wieringa
Madness
Photography
Another new AMD World
Championship of Custom Bike Building
affiliate show for 2020, the Czech
Custom Grand Prix (CCGP) is an
associate event of Motosalon 2020, the
Czech market's leading international
motorcycle expo - indeed, it is the largest
such show, not just in the Czech
Republic, but all of eastern Europe.
Ever since the AMD European and World
Championship programs started, they
have showcased some of the excellent
custom engineering that is being done
in eastern Europe - something that a lot
of people are still surprised by.
Eastern European builders have
scooped dozens of AMD European and
World Championship titles, podiums
and class wins, and 2018 saw not just a
Russian win the AMD World
Championship, but eastern European
builders took four out of the top ten
spots in the Freestyle class, including
third and fourth places - Pavel Malenik
of the Czech Republic taking fourth with
his much admired 'Beast of Brooklands'.
So when AMD was approached with
what looked like a convincing affiliate
event proposition, one with the
pedigree, backing and connections to
make it a viable long-term candidate to
showcase the best that eastern Europe
had to offer, AMD was 'all over it'.
When you go to a new AMD affiliate
event for the first time, and in this case
an entirely new first-time show, you are
never sure what you are going to find,
but I have to say, this show and the
standard of bikes was excellent.
The event is a credit to the long existing
custom culture in the eastern parts of
Europe, and the Czech Custom GP
(CCGP) proved that with the many
beautiful, often handcrafted customs on
show, and there was a great eye for
detail with some in a distinctive eastern
European style.
The name for the show was chosen
because the city in which it was being
staged, Brno, is synonymous with Grand
Prix motorcycle racing in Europe - Brno
is one of the most famous of Europe's
MotoGP tracks with a pedigree that
goes back many decades.
As an affiliate event, the overall winner
of the CCGP at Motosalon will be
representing the show at the next AMD
World Championship at INTERMOT,
Cologne, Germany (October 6-11). With
over 100 custom bikes competing in
eight competition classes, this show was
Tomáš Pitlík won the Best in Show with 'Tnorf' a 1938 CZ 175cc engine.
Ten year old Max Faragula won the National Legends class and an invitation
to compete at the AMD World Championship with his 1936 Jawa 250 based
boardtracker.
The Freestyle class winner was 'Rock Steady' by Penz Custombikes.
more than expected for the over 65,000
visitors that crammed the aisles on the
Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
However, proving that timing is
everything, the numbers dropped
considerably on the Sunday as fear
about the COVID-19 threat rushed
through Europe that very same
weekend.
Next to the usual classes, the Indian
Redskin and National Legends classes
stood out. The Indian class was for
Indians only, of course, but the National
Legends class embraced all motorcycles
from the era of socialism - of which
many had been restored and/or
customized to the max! And yes, it was
a Max, aged just ten years old and
probably the youngest builder ever, who
took first place in the National Legends
class and was therefore awarded a
special AMD invitation to compete at
the AMD World Championship.
Max Faragula from Slovakia, with some
help from his father, showed that the
traditions of innovation and precision
engineering of the once huge
Czechoslovak motorcycle industry are
very much alive and well with his
beautiful 1936 Jawa 250 based
boardtracker - a real attention grabber.
Best in Show was won by former AMD
competitor Tomáš Pitlík, who had two
great machines in the show. It was his
'Tnorf' front wheel driven bike with a
1938 CZ 175 cc engine that won top
honors, earning the biggest trophy and
the expenses paid trip to the AMD World
Championship in Cologne.
In the Freestyle class it was 'Rock
Steady', a cool chopper built by Penz
Custombikes (Austria) that received the
biggest trophy.
With competitors from countries such as
Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland,
Germany and, of course, the Czech
Republic, it was a very international
show and one that could become a lot
bigger still in the future as many more
competitors from other countries,
especially Italy, would have liked to
come but couldn't because of the
borders in Europe beginning to close as
the continent headed towards
lockdown.
Still, the CCGP organizers did everything
and much more to get as many bikes to
their show as possible and handled the
issues and needs of their competitors
and visitors very professionally - on
behalf of the AMD team and the World
Championship program big thanks for
that to Ondrej and Tereza!
The Brno Motosalon is staged every
other year, alternating with the Prague
show, which is where the 2021 Czech
custom show will be staged. The custom
bike show used to be known as the
Bohemian Custom Show had been an
AMD affiliate show twice before, but as
Ondrej explained "sending the winner
to Sturgis, where the AMD WCC used to
be, simply got too expensive for us.
"With Motosalon and the Prague show
we have new partners, and now we are
able to put on a great custom bike show.
BVV, the biggest partner and main
organizer, helped us to realize this year's
Custom Grand Prix, and we are very
grateful to be an affiliate to the AMD
World Championship again.
"After this good start, I am sure that
next year the CCGP will be even bigger
and better, and at last, with AMD's
backing and credentials, we have a
platform that really can become the
showcase for eastern Europe that has
always been needed."
facebook.com/czechcustomgp
24 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JUNE 2020 www.AMDchampionship.com