From the moment he woke up, the last Sunday in March looked to be a very bad day for motorcycle racer Lukáš Pešek.

Shortly after switching on his mobile phone in the morning March 26, Pešek, 20, got a shock — it was an hour later than he thought it was. He'd forgotten about the change from standard to daylight-saving time at 2 a.m.

"When I looked at my mobile and saw the amount of messages, I couldn't believe so many people were awake at 6 in the morning," he said. "I did not know about the time change."

Ordinarily, sleeping an hour late wouldn't be a huge deal, but March 26 wasn't any ordinary day for Pešek. It was the day of the opening race of the MotoGP road-racing season in Jerez, Spain. Pešek had qualified for the competition by becoming the only Czech to win a MotoGP qualification race two days earlier.

But, despite the bad start, March 26 ended up being one of the greatest days in Pešek's career.

He stunned the competition and the crowd by finishing second in the MotoGP, becoming the first Czech rider in 35 years to make the podium in the world's most prestigious road-racing motorcycle series.

It was by no means an easy race. Nothing went according to plan.

Moments before the start of the race, the clutch on Pešek's Derbi 125 failed and his mechanics had to make a last-minute repair.

Pešek couldn't even stick to his initial strategy of hanging back in the early stages of the race to conserve energy until the end. Indeed, he took the lead after the first curve.

"There was an open space in front of me," he said. "I could hardly slow down and let someone else fill it."

Pešek got another opportunity to employ his initial strategy when Alvaro Bautista of Spain overtook him toward the middle of the race. Pešek thought he could ride comfortably in Bautista's air stream for the remainder of the race and then shoot past him at the end for a dash to the finish line.

He never got the opportunity.

In the middle of the race, Pešek's rear brake malfunctioned, forcing him to slow down. The Spaniard gained an insurmountable lead, but Pešek managed to fight off the field to hold on to second place until the finish.

"It's a shame that the brake broke," he said. "But the result was still great."

No planning, please

Pešek has been competing in MotoGP for three years and is expected to become the first Czech to vie for top spots in the series.

Until Jerez, Pešek's best achievement was sixth place in a MotoGP race in Germany last summer. His performance at Jerez, however, is proof that he can compete with the best in the sport, he said.

"I had some ups and downs in the past," Pešek said. "Hopefully, I won't have to wait too long for another podium finish."

Karel Pešek, the racer's father and longtime coach, said his son is finally starting to gain his opponents' respect.

"It's important that he can show his back to opponents on a regular basis," the elder Pešek said.

Pešek's career has had its bumps.

He broke both arms the first time he got atop a motorcycle, when he was 3 years old. More than a decade later, in his debut race in the European Championships series in 2002, Pešek suffered a bad fall.

He also came off his bike in his first MotoGP race, after holding fourth place for most of the race before a home crowd in Brno. He didn't finish.

Last year, repeated technical malfunctions kept Pešek from finishing many races. One of his priorities for 2006 is to finish the majority of events he competes in.

Looking back at Pešek's career, it's no surprise things didn't go as planned in Jerez. But things have never gone as planned for Pešek, something he seems to have made peace with as he pursues a career in professional motorcycle racing.