Exciting racing for national titles and some fast guests from abroad on the World Cup track in Maribor.
Monika Hrastnik and Austrian Sebastian Weinhandl were the fastest in the third race of the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series, which was also the national championship, at the Bike Park Pohorje Maribor. The fastest Slovenian was the winner among junior men Ažbe Kalinšek, while the national championship medals among men’s elite were shared by the riders from Northern Primorska region: the national champion was Marko Niemiz, followed by Luka Berginc and Miha Jerkič.
For the third race of this year’s Slovenian Downhill Cup 20chocolate Downhill Cup and the 34th Slovenian National Downhill Championship, the organisers from the Grabit Sports Club and the builders of the Maribor park prepared a 2200 m long course with 540 m of elevation gain. They also laid out some new sections, so that even those who train a lot on the most challenging Slovenian track did not have as much of an advantage.
After Saturday’s training on an extremely dusty and slippery track, which also took some crashes (we wish a speedy recovery to Jakob Kovšca, whose broken femur was operated on Sunday morning), a heavy overnight downpour turned the dust into mud, but by the time of the afternoon’s timed runs, the seeding and the final, the conditions were already perfect.
Women: Monika’s 9th
Monika Hrastnik (AON Racing – Tourne Campervans), 31, a member of the top ten fastest riders in the World Cup, came to the track, where she has already won two European titles, as an eight-time national champion and the main favourite. She justified her role and was fastest by a wide margin in both runs.
The battle for the title of vice champion was interesting, with two members of Maribor teams competing – Maša Komel (427 Savage Squad), who switched to downhill from enduro for this season, and junior Eva Zala Stergar (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team). In the seeding, they were separated by only 39 hundredths of a second, but in the final Maša managed to improve her time by a good two seconds and with a 28-second gap behind Monika she earned the silver medal, while the home junior took the bronze.
Another young local competitor, Eva Podvornik (ŠD Grabit), only 14 years old, won her first title in the new national championship category for girls under 17, which was introduced this year.
In the series standings after three races, Maša Komel is leading Eva Podvornik, with Neža Štern (MTB klub Kranj) in third place, who missed the championship.
“I really like that they changed the lower part because we are all trained on this track, we are all almost over the limit. I’m glad that there were a lot of girls. I know them, I know how they ride, and they are progressing every year, which is very good to see. Now the European Championships. I’m going every race to win, especially a championship. It would be my fourth title, which would be very nice. Some people say the jersey is ugly, I don’t think it is. I haven’t been on this track in Spain yet, we’ll see what it’s like. But I’m looking forward to the championship being over, to take a little break, it’s quite tiring.”
Monika Hrastnik
Men: Niemiz Not Stopping
After winning the first round of this year’s series in Gorjanci and despite a slip-up at the second round in Ravne na Koroškem, the title of elite National Champion for Marko Niemiz (Rajd Ljubljana) is not a huge surprise. But when he returned last year after almost three years away from racing with a sensational victory on his enduro bike at the final round of the series in Sljeme, nobody could have imagined that he would become national champion the following year.
The 23-year-old Niemiz, on a bike borrowed from two-time national champion Žig Pandur, was second in the seeding, beaten only by Austrian Sebastian Weinhandl (Bike Club Schladming-Dachstein). Croatian Matija Crnković (Coast Riders) surprised with the third fastest time, followed by last year’s series winner Miha Jerkič (427 Savage Squad) and defending champion Tilen Leban (KD Deš Fleš). Luka Berginc (Coast Riders) and Gašper Jurečič (Grabit), two of the favourites, finished second to last and last with unlucky performances, so Beginc opened the final in this category, while the injured Jurečič did not make the start.
Berginc, the 2021 and 2023 champion, took the early lead and was still in the hot seat with only the fastest two from the seeding run still on the track. Luka was the only one at that moment to go under three and a half minutes and Jerkič was also 2 seconds and 25 hundredths behind him. Berginc’s time was less than half a second faster than Niemiz’s time in the seeding. But Niemiz bettered his own time by a good two seconds, which was enough for the national title!
The DH Pohorje win went to the last man on the track, 20-year-old Sebastian Weinhandel. The third place finisher from this year’s Austrian Championships really had his day at Pohorje, beating Niemiz by 10 seconds.
Interestingly, Niemiz does not have any junior national titles in his collection. The last time he stood on the top step of a national championship podium was in Javornik in 2018 as an U17, which was his fifth consecutive national championship title, as he has two from the U17 category and three from the U15 category.
Niemiz also leads the series standings with 700 points from three races, second-placed Berginc has 430 points from two races, and Jurečič is third with 378 points.
“I’m surprised too, to one extent. I wouldn’t have thought that I would be able to do it on a borrowed bike and after not having been here for four years. Everything is different. I wouldn’t say that the two rides were so good, I was down in the seeeding and in the final I made too many mistakes, one after the other. I’m surprised about the time, but it was enough. Now I’m also in the team for the European Championships, I didn’t plan to do that, I’ll try to enjoy it and do my best in international field. On a borrowed bike, I don’t have another one.”
Marko Niemiz
“Overall, it was a really good race weekend. Maribor is just an hour away from where I live, which makes it a regular training spot for me. My final training run didn’t go as planned, so I was happy with a really good seeding run The only negative thing was that I had to start last, but I managed to stay focused and keep the nerves to get another excellent run when it counted. I honestly didn’t expect to be two seconds faster than in the seeding. Taking the win made me incredibly happy. Huge compliments to the organizers for running such a flawless event—Austria could definitely take a few notes from you! “
Sebastian Weinhandl
Juniors: Kalinšek Continues Title Streak
Ažbe Kalinšek, twice champion in the U17 (and twice before in the U15), now a member of the Mondraker Factory Racing, was the favourite in his first season among the 19 juniors, despite an injury at the start of the season. This was only his third race since his comeback. He started with a crash in Friday’s practice and on race day, with a punctured tyre, he did not finish the sdng. Vincent Vodan (Ger), Paul Schmidinger (Aut) and Alexander Pervan (Cro) came out on top, followed by Maks Struna (KK Završnica) and defending champion Matej Osolin (Golovec Trails).
Kalinšek was the first to take to the course in the final and sat in the hot sun in the finish area for a long time. He stayed there until the end of the category, and his time remained the second fastest time of the day after the elite category. Behind Ažbe, the international riders mixed it up a bit, with Schmidinger in second and Vodan in third. Osolin took the silver of the national championship with a fifth place and a time just under four seconds better than in the seeding, while the bronze went to Struna, who was eighth overall.
Martin Mark Milar (Rajd Ljubljana), this time only 12th in the final, hung on to his lead in the series standings, closely followed by Osolin and Struna.
“Great. The track was drying quickly, so I put a bit less pressure on the front tyre for the qualifying, but it split on the rocky section. Then the tactic was to go a bit safer in the final. We put the settings to dry and it worked. It would have been great to get the best time overall, but I didn’t expect it when I saw the times from the seeding. Third race since my injury and my fifth title. I have medium expectations for the European Championships, it would be great to finish as high as possible. Every race I feel better on the bike and my confidence is coming back.”
Ažbe Kalinšek
U17 Men: SKS!
In the seding run of the U17 male category, Jakob Praček (KK Kamplc / Cube Next Generation) was the fastest with a top time, second overall. In the final, his performance was slightly bettered by last year’s Cup winner Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (Bikehanic Lumar), but Praček’s rear tyre slid off his rim and he finished down the results list. The title went to Kunaver Smolkovič, silver to Gabriel Nosan (ŠD BATT) and bronze to Val Peserl (427 Savage Squad). The fast Croatian Šimun Juras (BK Fortica) came in second overall and is now leading in the series.
Veterans’ Trophy
In the men’s master category, it was already clear from the seeding performance that the medals would be shared by three former successful competitors in the junior and elite categories, unless something went terribly wrong. Saša Merljak and Boštjan Volf (both Wolf Racing Team), who were separated by only 17 hundredths of a second in the seeding, swapped positions and Volf became the champion. The bronze went to local Jure Logar (427 Savage Squad).
Merljak leads the series standings ahead of Logar and Volf, who missed the DH Poseka.
Amateur Men
The local amateur competition was scarce, or rather a number of riders didn’t show up for the start on Sunday. The championship podium taken by two members of the Alliance ASE Racing Team, Dante Brelih with gold and Gabrijel Kemperl with silver medal. In the international competition, Italy’s Marco Vicenzino (Tecno Bike) won ahead of Slovakia’s Marek Katrinec, with Brelih third.
Matic Kokl (Alliance) is leading in the standings ahead of Tadej Skočir and Brelih.
The Youngest
In the under-15 category, local Nik Brumen (427 Savage Squad) was once again the fastest, and is undefeated in the series this year. Second place went to Nikolaj Vukojevič (Golovec trails) and third to Rok Pavlič (DGK Pohorje).
Brumen leads the standings with a maximum score of 900 points, followed by Tai Bizjak (KK Ravne na Koroškem) and Max Sliško (427 Savage Squad).
The youngest category U13 competed on a shorter course than Trikotna jasa, won by Tin Adam (427 Savage Squad) ahead of Vili Semenič (KK Črn trn) and clubmate Lija Leber.
All DH Pohorje and Cup standings in the 20chocolate Downhill Cup series
Podiums – National Championships
Podiums – 20chocolate Downhill Cup
To Carinthia, Austria
The 20chocolate Downhill Cup series will continue in a month’s time in Weissensee / White Lake in Carinthia, Austria. The race will take place on Saturday, 23 August. The race will be held in cooperation with the Austrian Gravity Series and will also be the championship of the state of Carinthia.
Details and registration coming soon!