The long-standing experience with rally organization brought the Košice Auto Club in 2009 to organize an competition on the Jahodná Hill. The organization needed a strong partner who moves in motor sport and can cover the race. That became the company Moris Slovakia s.r.o., which took over as co-organizer. After nine years of Moris Cup Jahodna, we can clearly say that this collaboration has been successful.
The first year of the Moris Cup Jahodná took place on 5th-7th June 2009 and attracted 48 drivers to start. The rainy weather forced them to go a little safer. It was clear that the absolute primacy was mainly abducted by riders of covered vehicles over two liters. This was confirmed when Martin Koiš took the first place on Ford Focus. On Sunday, the track was dry, but despite the fact, Formula driver Andrej Krajci was not able to catch up with the quick Kois. He also won the second day of competition and in the history of Moris Cup Jahodná recorded the best time achieved- 2:07,037.
At the end of the first year, the organizers immediately started to work on the second. However, the annual preparation of the competition was not able to influence the weather, which decided to change the plans of the organizers. At the beginning of June 2010, Slovakia suffered extensive floods. The organizing team was solving this situation with the crisis flood crew until the decision was finally taken to start the competition. During the first two training sessions, the track was opened several times, but the situation went so badly that the Race HQ was forced to stop the race after the first heat. Second-day fees and Moris Slovakia s.r.o. fee Auto Club of Košice has given to municipalities Nižná Myšľa and Krásna nad Hornádom, which were the most affected by the floods. The fastest driver during the only competitive heat was Andrej Krajči at the Lola F3000 monopost. His time was 2: 04,991.
The 4,750-meters competition track between the Alpinka and the Jahodna Recreation Resort also became the center of the event in 2011. The organizers ambition to enter the higher class races was accepted by SAMS and the FIA International Automobile Federation, when the third edition of Moris Cup Jahodna was first time included in the FIA International Hill Climb Challenge and the FIA European Hill Climb Cup. The Slovak National Cup was also a novelty and that year's premiere. As for the results, both race days was Andrej Krajci the fastest on track, who has overcome his track record several times. He first did so on Saturday and second time on Sunday. His new value was set to 1: 57,335. Martin Koiš also improved his record in category E1 by only eight tenths of a second, when his new value was 2:06,230. In the National Cup, the domestic "rally stars" were presented, but Peter Florek was ahead on Mitsubishi.
Another success, but also a great deal of responsibility, came in the years 2012-2014 during which the Polish national association of PZM placed this competition in its hills calendar. The races on the hill of Jahodna were then enriched by the participation of the whole Polish racing peak. The FIA International Hill Climb Challenge, the FIA European Hill Climb Cup, the Slovak Championship and the PAV National Cup have again been added. That's why 121 drivers were introduced in the year 2012 on the track! The victory of both days in the Slovak and Polish championships was taken by Polish Tomasz Nagorski on Subaru Impreza WRX. His best time on Saturday was 2:04,484 and on Sunday he was able to improve exactly by six hundreds, to 2:04,424. On the second day of the competition, the FIA IHCC winner has been known, who became Czech driver Václav Janík on the Lola B02 / 50 vehicle. He twice exceeded last year's record of Andrej Krajči in category II and set its new value to 1: 54,772.
The fifth year of Moris Cup Jahodna in 2013 was again a little more interesting. The competition was first time included in the FIA Historic Hill Climb Championship (IHCC), which is the highest competition for historic vehicles. The observers had the opportunity to view passages of interesting historic vehicles.
By changing the timetable as well as the system of moving cars to start, the problems with the timetable were eliminated and all drivers had the option of driving two heats in each of two days. Jaro Krajci was very good at winning a track record on Saturday when he reached the time of 1: 50,254. However, the first driver to reach time below 1:50 was Václav Janík. It was probably the reason which has motivated the Slovak driver to improve his time and finally his value was cut to 1: 48,440. Tomasz Nagorski also made an incredible improvement, cutting his best time from last year for more than 5 seconds to 1:58,897. Even in category I, a new track record fell.
The next year of the 2014 race was accompanied by rain so the organizers did not expect any record breaking. Rather, they hoped the entire competition would be fine without serious accidents. Despite the weather, up to 88 vehicles has undergone administrative and technical check. In the highlight of the FIA International Hill Climb Cup, Václav Janík was again in the best light, winning with a 5-seconds lead. Great times, just two seconds slower than Janik, Uberto Bonucci reached with the Osella PA9 / 90 monopost with which he was racing among historics. As no one was able to get close to the Italian driver, he became the winner of the FIA Historic Hill Climb Championship. Tomasz Nagorski won again in the Slovakia Championship, who was replaced by another Polish driver in the next year.
In 2015 Moris Cup Jahodná was not included in the Polish Championship, but we still saw Polish drivers on the track. One of them was the driver known under the pseudonym Dubai, at his fast Mitsubishi Lancer. The Polish driver made a good start, and from the second day he took second place. On the first day on the track won another driver, Italian with a Swiss license named Tiziano Riva. He brought the Reynard 92D to Jahodná and as his biggest competitor Václav Janík withdrew for technical reasons, he had a free way to win. Sunday brought success to Tomas Ondrej, who won three tenths of a second ahead of the Dubai.
After an annual break in 2016, Polish drivers returned to the Jahodná and completed the starting grid for a total of 105. Thanks to the re-entry into the FIA International Hill Climb Cup, Václav Janík did not miss the start, again confirming his speed, this time on the M20FC . He became not only the winner of the FIA IHCC, but also the absolute winner of the first cup day. In addition he came close to four tenths of a second to Jaro Krajči's track record. Since Janík did not start on Sunday and only one Czech formula remained in the starting field, it was clear who should win. The driver was Dušan Nevěřil, who also confirmed these assumptions.
The last year 2017 did not bring any change in the FIA IHCC scoreboard, as the first place was defended by Václav Janík traditionally. However, it brought the name of the new driver of category II, namely Jozef Bereš, who became accustomed to the new device named Tatuus PY012. And it must be acknowledged that he got used to it really fast when he won on Saturday and finished second on Sunday after Janik. The ninth year of the Moris Cup Jahodná was also exceptional in the fact that the new track record in the Category II was created. It was made by the Igor Drotár when he set new value to 1: 58,726, which was more than one tenth of a second better than the time of Tomasz Nagorski in 2013.
Zdenka Frývaldská
Press Secretary Moris Cup Jahodná 2018