Racing on the short new track in Bike Park Kope offered small gaps and exciting outcomes. New names at the top in the elite categories, even a fifth winner this year in the men’s category. The fastest are 16 years old!
The autumn part of the racing in the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series was opened by the DH Kope race, which returned to the series this year after last year’s absence. The management of the park was taken over by the builders BATT Crew, which also took over the organisation of the race and prepared a new track for this purpose. A number of other new trails were built in the park during the season and plans for the coming years are much bigger, so bike park lovers can only look forward to new things.
Return to Pungart
The 1.3 km long track runs with 175 m of vertical drop along the left side of the Pungart ski slope and partly follows the Wild Rooster trail, partly through the forest and partly through grassy sections. In some parts with a welcome choice of lines. There is jumping too, but the essential thing was to keep the speed and, of course, to ride without mistakes. The times went well under two minutes and the gaps were small.
A welcome change was the new finish area next to the restaurant At the Hare, although it did take a few elevation meters off the track. But that’s where the Bike Park Kope’s starts and ends and where all the action is.
Matic Kvas on Top for the First Time
26-year-old Maribor’s Matic Kvas (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team), who returned to downhill racing in earnest this year after injuries and working with youngsters at his home club, came to Kope with a team of budding young riders. Once all the youngsters were at the finish line, he and his teammate Jaša Kasjak Gutman, took to the track among the elite in the seeding run. Both on enduro bikes, although they also had their “big” downhill guns with them. They did well, with Jaša finishing second in the seeding, beaten only by the winner of the Soriška planina, Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn). Kvas was 6th with 2.29 behind Jerkič, and among the two Maribor riders were Austrian Sebastian Weinhandl (Bike Club Schladming Dachstein), enduro specialist Jernej Kavčič (MBK Črni Vrh) and national champion Tilen Leban (KD Deš Fleš).
In the final, Kvas improved on his seeding run performance by almost three seconds and lifted enduro rider Tim Krašovec (Wolf Racing by Wheelbase), who had started ahead of him, out of the hot seat. Leban was close, but 51 hundredths of a second behind Kvas. Kavčič and Weinhandl were more than a second slower and Matic could already celebrate his first ever podium finish in the elite competition. This year, he was 4th on Soriška planina, and in the younger categories he was a regular kid on podium and also took a couple of wins.
Jaša Kasjak Gutman messed it up in the last forest section and finished outside the top ten, but quickly consoled himself when he saw a teammate jumping out of the leader’s seat. The only rider left on the track was Jerkič, a young rider in his first season among the elite, who started to show his downhill speed right here at Kope and won both races here in 2022 among the juniors. The riders from Ajdovščina would have had to equal his time from the seeding to win, but he failed to do so, 39 hundredths of a second behind Kvas.
“My last strong season was 2017, then I got injured, last year I came back a bit in the middle of the season in enduro, and this year since the beginning of the season in both SloEnduro and downhill series. It’s been slowly building up and here we are. I’ve also started slowly again through the coaching work, I’ve broken down the technique and it’s showing. But I didn’t expect to win. I was already looking at the points a little bit before and thinking about fourth or even third place overall, it would be great for the team too, but now I’m going to give it my all in Sljeme and we’ll see where I can get to.”
Matic Kvas
In the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series we got the fifth winner of the year, or if we count the “race 0”, which didn’t bring points, the sixth one: Golovec – Luka Berginc, Maribor – Žak Gomilšček, Kranjska Gora (NC) – Tilen Leban, Soriška planina – Miha Jerkič, Lienz – Markus Kamper, or from the licensed riders – Miha Smrdel.
The first five elite men:
- Matic Kvas (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) 1:41.86
- Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn) +0.39
- Tilen Leban (KD Deš Fleš) +0.51
- Tim Krašovec (Wolf Racing team by Wheelbase) +1.09
- Sebastian Weinhandl (Avt, Bike Club Schladming Dachstein) +1.36
Nežka Libnik Makes Older Riders Wonder
It was also interesting in the combined women’s category, where ten riders started, nine of them Slovenes, which is a good number for this discipline.
Just as the U17 rider, Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem), with her times in the special stages is beating the older competitors in the enduro (she can’t yet compare herself on the full course, as her category competes on a shorter course), she was also much more than just noticed in her first ever downhill race.
The 16-year-old (also on an enduro bike, she doesn’t have another one) has already won the seeding run with a lead of almost nine seconds over Maša Komel (KK Črn trn). Tina Smrdel (KK Črn trn), two-time winner at Kope two years ago and leader of the series standings, had a bad seeding run and took the lead early in the final. She remained in the hot seat until Nežka came down and improved her seeding time by almost two seconds. Libnik won the race with an 8-second lead over second-placed Smrdel and a good two seconds more over third-placed Komel.
“It was great for my first race, the track and everything. Unlike at an enduro race, you ride the course several times, get to know the lines and then take your race run at a higher speed. I loved the downhill right away, I’ll probably come back, maybe to Sljeme.”
Nežka Libnik
Junior and Under 17 Men: Ažbe Kalinšek Fastest Again
An Under 17 category rider Ažbe Kalinšek (MTB Trbovlje), who has also become European Downhill Champion since the last time we saw him in the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series (when he won the national championship in Kranjska Gora), was the fastest of all the riders at Kope. This meant a time of 1:40.37 in the seeding run, the fastest time recorded all day. In the final, when the course tape wound up on his rear cassette and he couldn’t pedal in the last part, he was 1.3 slower slower, but still the fastest of everyone on the course! And he did it on a downhill bike, so that it doesn’t become a fact that this is an enduro bike track.
In the U17 men, Kalinšek was followed by Max Žvegla (Bikehanic Lumar), whose time would also have put him on the podium in the elite, and enduro specialist Ian Laharnar (Kamplc Racing Team).
Among the Under 19 junior men, Maks Struna (KK Završnica), one of the fastest in enduro, recorded his first downhill victory, followed by national champion Matej Osolin (Calcit Bike Team) in second and Soriška planina winner Aljaž Bogataj (Rajd Ljubljana) in third.
The Return of Virtič and More
Aleš Virtič, one of the fastest Slovenians a few years ago, lives in Austria and last competed as an elite rider at Kope two years ago, when he came 4th. This time he came to have fun in the amateur category and won with a time that would have put him in a nice spot among the elite.
In the master category, Sebastian Prinčič (MTB club Boshk) came out of nowhere to take the win for the young club from Koper in front of second-placed Jure Logar (427 Savage Squad) and third-placed Urban Napotnik (KD Lignit). Prinčič is quite good on land, as he spent his elite years not on a mountain bike, but on a sailboat!
The youngest also did well. In the U15 boys’ category, Maks Fošnarič (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) took his second win, while in the U13 category, Max Sliško (427 Savage Squad) was on the top step for the first time.
Ranking Before Final at Sljeme
Leban took the lead among the elite men with 723 points, Jerkič is only three points behind him in second place! The previous leader, Žak Gomilšček, who missed his second race, has slipped to third place, Kvas is still in fourth place, but is now only 75 points behind Gomilšček.
In the women’s standings, Tina Smrdel leads with 856 points, Komel is second with 739 and Eva Zala Stergar is third with 706 points.
Osolin leads the junior men with 900 points, Anže Kofjač is second with 79 points less, Struna is in third place, 89 points behind Kofjač.
Kalinšek, who missed two races, took the lead in the U17 category and is back in the race for the overall win. Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (Rajd Ljubljana), who has been the leader in the category, recorded a zero this time, having crashed in Saturday’s training and not competing on Sunday, but he might be ready for Sljeme. The difference is 224 points.
All the standings
Finals in Zagreb Approaching
In two weeks’ time, on Sunday 22 September, the sixth and final race of the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series in the 2024 season will take place in Croatia. The DH Sljeme race, which will also be the Croatian Downhill Championship, will be held on Sljeme ski slopes above Zagreb, this time on a slightly extended DH Legends track.
All information and registration for DH Sljeme
Let’s Go Biking! On Kope
Blaž Hölcl led a well-attended free guided enduro tour under as part of Let’s Go Biking! programme of the Slovenia Cycling. The group ride some of the most beautiful trails in the wider area of the park and enjoyed excellent conditions and views.