Jan Lucák (20 July 1912 – 10 March 1997) was a Czech

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

rider. He was capped by the Czechoslovak national speedway team.

Career

Lucák was born on 20 July 1912 in Strýčkovice. He began a career connected with racing when he took on an apprenticeship at the Prague company of the Šulc brothers, who imported British motorcycles of the BSA brand. He participated in his first race at the age of 20 at a competition in Tábor. He also raced road racing and speedway. In the 1930s, he was a factory driver for the Ogar company and in 1935 he competed in the Swedish Grand Prix on a Velocette motorcycle. In 1935, he was the first winner of the 300-turn race in Hořice on an Ogar motorcycle in the 250 class. He became a Jawa factory rider in 1940, but

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

interrupted his activities. At the beginning of the fifties, he finished road racing, focusing only on speedway. Lucák along with Hugo Rosák was refused permission to leave Czechoslovakia during the

1950 Individual Speedway World Championship The 1950 Individual Speedway World Championship was the fifth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The title was won by Welshman Freddie Williams with the pivotal heat being the heat against Austra ...

. In 1951, he won the prestigious

Golden Helmet of Pardubice The Golden Helmet of Pardubice (Czech: Zlatá přilba) is a motorcycle speedway competition hosted annually in Pardubice, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest motorcycle speedway race in Europe and is considered prestigious. History The race w ...

on a motorcycle with a JAP engine. Lucák won the silver medal at the 1954 Czechoslovak Individual Speedway Championship. This was in-between two bronze medals won in 1949 and 1955 respectively. He died on 10 March 1997. In 2012, he was given a commemorative plaque in Strýčkovice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucak, Jan 1912 births 1997 deaths People from Domažlice District Sportspeople from the Plzeň Region Czechoslovak speedway riders