At the third round of the Slovenian Downhill Series, the 20chocolate Downhill Cup, held on Soriška Planina, riders took risks racing in the dust. A trio of neo-elite riders takes over men’s podium.
While the valley was sweltering in the heat, downhill racers competed last weekend in the cool air of Soriška Planina at the third round of the Slovenian Downhill Series, the 20chocolate Downhill Cup. On Saturday, while familiarizing themselves with the course, they were treated to an unexpected “refreshment” in the form of a thunderstorm, but on race day—Sunday—the conditions for racing were perfect, at least as far as the weather was concerned. The course was dry and slippery, after all.
A total of 110 riders from Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia took to the 1,650-meter-long Žwau (Beast) track, which features a 280-meter elevation drop.
The Class of 2007 Takes the Lead
Partly due to the absence of Marko Niemiz (Bikehanic Lumar)—the winner of the first two rounds, who was competing in the European Cup race in France—last year’s fastest rider on Soriška Planina, Maks Struna (KK Završnica), was among the top favorites. Last year, he won the junior category with the fastest overall time of the final; this year, he and Matej Osolin (Golovec Trails)—who was hot on his heels here last year—have moved up to the elite category.
In the seeding run, Struna was the fastest among the elite, ahead of Jakob Lorber (Golovec Trails) and Nejc Dagarin (MTB Club Kranj), who wore the number one plate in Niemiz’s absence. All three were born in 2007 and are competing in their first season among the elite. But Struna was overtaken by the fastest junior, Max Žvegla (ŠD Grabit), by less than a second, thus setting the bar for the fastest time in the final run.
Although Žvegla was fast enough to win the junior category in the final, he was nearly a second slower than his time in the qualifying round and must have already known that the elite riders would be faster than him.
Dagarin did not improve on his seeding time as much as the fastest riders in the final and dropped out of contention for the top spot. Osolin, last year’s second-fastest rider, stayed in teh hot seat. In the end, he finished in third place, edged out first by just under two seconds by the second-to-last rider on the track, Jakob Lorber. Finally, Struna proved he is the new king of the Žwau track, setting the day’s best time of 2:34.88—beating Lorber’s time by 42 hundredths of a second.
Žvegla’s time was enough for 4th place in the overall results for elite and juniors, which also determine the distribution of money purse. Fifth place went to Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn), the winner of Sor’ca two years ago.
Niemiz remained at the top of the standings; Struna is now second, 60 points behind, and Lorber is third.
A Quick Chat with Maks Struna
What was different for Maks Struna this year compared to last year’s victory, his first?
“The course was drier than last year, so I could ride more aggressively; the roots weren’t as slippery either, so I was really flying. And I sprinted all the way to the finish, until I had to call it quits—that was it,”
replies the young man from Jesenice, who has already competed in the Enduro World Cup this year but sticks to a lower level of competition in downhill.
Who did he consider his most dangerous opponent? Perhaps Žvegla for the overall podium, since he was faster in the seeding run?
“Yeah, I was actually a bit afraid of Žvegla, but Lorber was flying too—we were pretty close.”
With the national championship coming up in two weeks, has his appetite for the title grown?
“It would be pretty nice to wear the national champion’s sleeve; we’ll do our best,”
says the not-so-talkative Maks.
In Women’s Category, Komel Firmly at the Top
Maša Komel (KK Črn trn), who leads the united women’s category standings with a second-place finish in Poseka and a victory in Maribor, is aware of how close the U17 rider Eva Podvornik (ŠD Grabit) is, so she can’t afford to get play safe or make mistakes. Maša was the fastest in both runs and solidified her lead, while Eva followed her in second place in the final, trailing by 5.47 seconds. Third place went to junior Neža Štern (MTB Club Kranj).
The same three riders top the standings after three races.
A Quick Chat with Maša Komel
She probably could have pushed a little harder in the final; Maša didn’t seem satisfied with her performance.
“I made a mistake—I hit a rock or a stump with my left foot, my toe hurt, and I got a little stuck in one of the turns. I already thought it wasn’t going to happen, but I told myself, ‘A race is a race; you have to push through to the end,’ and as it turns out, that was enough.”
In two weeks, we’ll be looking for a new national champion; Monika Hrastnik has retired, and the competition will be bolstered by at least two junior riders, Eva Zala Stergar and serial enduro winner Nežka Libnik.
“We’ll be there, but I can’t say more than that. There will be competition—the girls are fast—and may the best rider win. In dry races, like today’s race in Sorica, mistakes and crashes happen quickly. But I’m aiming for the top.”
Results
Women
1st Maša Komel (KK Črn trn) 3:04.50
2nd Eva Podvornik (ŠD Grabit) +5.47
3rd Neža Štern (MTB Club Kranj) +18.69
4th Lija Leber (427 Savage Squad) +39.80
5th Julija Vizintin (CRO, BK Bregdown) +47.79
Men
1st Maks Struna (KK Završnica) 2:34.88
2nd Jakob Lorber (Golovec Trails) +0.42
3rd Matej Osolin (Golovec Trails) +2.36
4th Max Žvegla (ŠD Grabit) +2.51
5th Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn) +3.49
In Other Categories
Among the juniors, Žvegla was followed by his clubmate Sven Podvornik in second place and Žiga Žižek (DGK Pohorje – Spank Racing Team) in third. Podvornik took the overall lead from Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (Bikehanic Lumar), who skipped the race (he competed in the European Cup); Žižek is third.
In the U17 male category, Nik Brumen (427 Savage Squad) repeated his victory from his home turf at Pohorje; Gaber Novak (Rajd Ljubljana) finished second, and Ažbe Bizjan (Golovec trails) third. Brumen leads the standings ahead of Novak, with Tai Bizjak (KK Ravne na Koroškem) in third.
Among boys U15, the younger of the Novak brothers, Gal, won ahead of Gal Palčič (Rajd Ljubljana) and Max Sliško (427 Savage Squad). Jaka Vujasin (Rajd), who finished fourth this time, remains in the lead, but Palčič trails by only 10 points, and Sliško by 30.
In the youngest category, the U13 boys, Tim Orel (Kamplc Racing Team) was the fastest this time. In the masters category, Robi Pahovec (Hörmann Team Slovenia) took the win, while Oskar Hozjan (MTB Club Goša Gravity) claimed a convincing victory among the amateurs
All the results are here, and at the bottom you’ll find the standings after three rounds.
Bottom Line
The downhill weekend at Soriška Planina, organized by the Omikron Plus club, has become a classic event set against an idyllic mountain backdrop, and summer is the best time for the race—though you do need a bit of luck to avoid thunderstorms. We were lucky when it came to injuries, too, as according to information from the Spank Team, both of Sunday’s helicopter rescue transports turned out to be merely a welcome precaution—the two riders are unharmed.
Next up in 20chocolate Downhill Cup…
The DH Kranjska Gora race is coming up on Sunday, July 26. The race at the Kranjska Gora Bike Park will be the fourth and penultimate round of this year’s cup series and will also serve as the National Championship race.
Photos by Jure Kranjec @jure.kranjec