ST Rauš in Novi Marof: the track a father built for his son

On Sunday 23 April 2017 the engines at the track near Novi Marof fired up at half past seven in the morning and fell silent only at 18.30. Ninety-four kart drivers from six countries lined up at the start, more than half of them had come from Slovenia, and television carried the broadcast. The race was named after Roberto Rauš, a former karting champion from that town who died tragically a year earlier. The track on which he was commemorated had been designed and built by his father Boris, in the years when his son was winning.

Location	Možđenec, town of Novi Marof, Varaždin County, Croatia; by the exit from the Zagreb–Varaždin motorway
Type	kart track, also used by supermoto, minimoto, sports motorcycles, cars and Formula Student racers
Length	1.3 km (according to the HAKS federation)
Direction of travel	counter clockwise (according to the Motorlap database)
Start of construction and first race	2004
Designer and builder	Boris Rauš, father of the driver Roberto Rauš
Fastest race lap (known from sources)	49.994 s, Damian Sekulić, KZ2 kart, “1. Nagrada Cobre 1234”, 15 April 2018
Most important events	rounds of the Croatian Championship and of the FIA CEZ in karting (2016–2026), the Roberto Rauš Memorial (2017–2018), Formula Student Alpe Adria (2021–2022), Croatian and Slovenian minimoto and supermoto championships (2023)
Status	active; track days and training sessions for amateurs

The father built, the son won

The track lies in Možđenec, a settlement belonging to the town of Novi Marof, literally by the exit from the motorway running from Zagreb to Varaždin. According to the regional weekly “Varaždinske vijesti” construction started in 2004 and the first kart race was held here in the same year; the paper adds that the facility was built to FIA standards for kart tracks and that motorcycle and car drivers from Hungary, Austria and Slovenia also train on it. No other source confirming the date 2004 could be found, so the year of opening has to be treated as the finding of a single newsroom.

The name of the track does not come from a sponsor but from the family. Roberto Rauš was, as the Varaždin portal Aktualno.hr wrote, “about ten years ago an exceptionally successful karting and racing driver on the track in his own town, a track that his father Boris built in the years of his sporting rise”. The portal eVaraždin put it more briefly: the track was designed by Boris Rauš. Where the abbreviation “ST” in the name comes from is not explained in any of the sources read; the Croatian press writes interchangeably “Karting centar ST Rauš”, “staza ST Rauš” or simply “staza Rauš”. The local tourist organisation describes the facility as intended above all for supermoto and karting, though also suitable for riding sports motorcycles, and mentions a restaurant by the track.

A rainy opening and the memory of Roberto

The earliest press report of a race that could be found dates from the spring of 2016. The RI autosport club from Rijeka organised in Novi Marof at that time the “3. Nagrada Prelučke legende”, the opening round of the Croatian championship, entered in the FIA calendar. It was raining, the race was declared wet, and 40 Croatian drivers from 14 clubs entered. It was the second edition of that event in Novi Marof: the first was run in 2013 in Belica in Međimurje, the second in 2014 already here. Hrvoje Cvitanović of the board of the Croatian federation HAKS (Hrvatski auto i karting savez) said at the time that it was “a truly beautiful track, a beautiful facility”, which in the future would host interesting names of this sport.

A year later the Zagreb club AKK Zanatlija, as “Varaždinske vijesti” noted, “after a number of years” returned to organising international races and chose exactly Novi Marof for the “1. Memorijal Roberto Rauš”. The event opened the season of the Croatian championship, counted towards the FIA CEZ Central European zone championship and the Slovenian SportStil Cup, and 94 drivers from six countries entered in nine classes; 51 of them were Slovenians, numerous especially in the classes for the youngest, Baby kart and Rotax Micro Max. Among the 37 Croatian competitors from 13 clubs there were current and former national champions: Dario Ćućić, Dorijan Čargonja, Ivo Matić and Damian Sekulić. The technical side of the race was handled by the Cobra club from Virovitica.

The second memorial was held on 11–13 May 2018, less than a month after another round on the same track that had opened the season with 93 drivers from six countries. That April race, the “1. Nagrada Cobre 1234” of the club from Virovitica run on Sunday 15 April, left behind the fastest lap that could be found in the sources: Damian Sekulić of AKK Ivanić, starting in the KZ2 class, completed a lap in 49.994 s in the last race of the day. Thirteen children in the Babycart class, all of them declared winners and awarded medals, drew the attention of the spectators more than the fight of the adults did.

A hundred and seventy karts from eleven countries

In the following years the host of the rounds in Novi Marof became the Podravina club from Koprivnica, and together with the Slovenian SportStil it turned them into a competition that the HAKS federation calls the biggest in the country. In May 2023 the entry list numbered 170 drivers from 11 countries, according to the portal GP1.hr a record in the history of the country; the most numerous were the Austrians, 68 people, while 35 Croats gave the hosts second place in terms of turnout. The race scored simultaneously towards the FIA CEZ, the Austrian Rotax Max Challenge, the SportStil Cup, the Croatian championship and the Slovenian Cup. A year later the HAKS federation announced 153 competitors from ten European countries and Israel, including 38 Croats, nine of whom drove in the promotional Baby Kart runs, the federation's programme for the youngest.

At the beginning of October 2025 the track hosted the finale of the season: 125 drivers in nine classes, scoring towards the FIA CEZ, the SportStil Cup and the Austrian and Slovenian championships, with the winners of the Rotax classes getting a ticket to the RMC Grand Finals world finals in Bahrain. Saturday was sunny, on Sunday came rain, wind and cold. The title of Croatian champion in the Rotax Micro Max class was secured by eleven-year-old Ivan Janičijević from Samobor, in his first season on two-stroke karts. Vinko Jellačić, the youngest participant in the KZ2 class, said after the race:

For me it was a great race. I learned a lot over the weekend, especially on Sunday when the rain came. I was glad to be finally driving a race in such conditions, because in the rain I had so far driven only practice sessions.

In June 2026 the organisation was taken over by Karting klub Koprivnica. For the “CEZ Croatia Novi Marof” round more than 60 drivers entered in nine classes, including 11 in the Baby class, which the chairman of the organising committee Danijel Zelenko pointed to as a reason for pride; admission for the public was free. The races were run in the heat, without collisions, and in the Senior class six drivers fought for victory; two rounds were won by the Austrian Raphael Boehmer, the third by the Croatian champion Adriano Kraljić.

Student racers and motorcycles

In the summer of 2021 cars that no factory builds drove onto the asphalt in Možđenec. The Varaždin association FSAA moved here from Rijeka the Formula Student Alpe Adria competition, in which student teams race in cars they have designed themselves. On 26–29 August 2021 37 teams arrived; the organisers estimated the turnout at more than 5000 spectators, and among the judges they listed engineers from Porsche Motorsport, Ferrari and Mercedes. According to the organiser, the teams came from 15 European countries, and before the event the Hina agency announced 850 students. A year later, from 23 to 28 August 2022, the event returned to Novi Marof already as an official round of the world Formula Student calendar, one of 13 in the world, with 50 teams from three continents and about 1200 participants; the general sponsor was Rimac Group, and mayor Siniša Jenkač encouraged residents to come and see the Nevera as well. In 2024 the competition was held at the track in Mičevec.

The track has also been hosting motorcycles for years. In September 2023 the Di Lenardo racing club from Rijeka ran in Novi Marof a round of the international Croatian and Slovenian championships in minimoto, ohvale, scooters, supermoto and the oldtimer class, in more than 20 classes, with riders from Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. The special guest was Martin Vugrinec, a rider from Novi Marof competing on the world stage.

A track day by the motorway

For an amateur the simplest way onto the track are the track days of the Blacklisted club. The club was founded in April 2018 in Čakovec by five motoring enthusiasts: Siniša Baksa, Ivan Vadla, Boris Novak, Saša Horvat and Marin Kuharić, and as early as 28 April they organised the first all-day Track Day in Novi Marof. The principle was simple: anyone may go out in their own registered car, driving without limits, but racing is forbidden, admission for spectators is free, driving at one's own risk. In October 2019 120 drivers came to the track day, 80 of whom officially measured times, and there were close to 2000 spectators; next to the track there was a “Park Your Car” contest for the best car in the car park. In July 2021 the eleventh edition was held, with the participation of the police from Novi Marof running preventive demonstrations.

The track also serves as a place for karting training. The company GoKart.hr offers trial drives in Novi Marof or in Krško in Slovenia, and MS Kart Croatia lists ST Rauš among the tracks at which it runs competitions and provides technical support. The calendar of official rounds is published by HAKS, together with the regulations and entry lists; in 2025 free practice started on Friday, on Saturday scrutineering and qualifying were held, and three scoring races were run on Sunday. In the OpenStreetMap database the facility appears as “Karting staza Novi Marof”, a sports centre for karting and motorsport.

Timeline

• 2004: start of construction of the track and the first kart race (according to “Varaždinske vijesti”).
• 2014: first “Prelučke legende” race in Novi Marof.
• 2016: rainy opening of the Croatian championship season, “3. Nagrada Prelučke legende”.
• 23 April 2017: “1. Memorijal Roberto Rauš”, 94 drivers from six countries.
• 15 April 2018: “1. Nagrada Cobre 1234”, fastest lap 49.994 s by Damian Sekulić.
• 28 April 2018: first all-day Track Day of the Blacklisted club.
• 11–13 May 2018: “2. Memorijal Roberto Rauš”.
• 26–29 August 2021: Formula Student Alpe Adria, 37 teams.
• 23–28 August 2022: Formula Student Alpe Adria as an official world round, 50 teams.
• 19–21 May 2023: FIA CEZ round with 170 entered drivers from 11 countries.
• 10 September 2023: Croatian and Slovenian minimoto and supermoto championships.
• 3–5 October 2025: finale of the Croatian karting championship, 125 drivers.
• 20–21 June 2026: “CEZ Croatia Novi Marof” round, more than 60 drivers.