Black Hole Enduro | Two days of fun in wet

Ninth season of SloEnduro series moved into second half during last weekend’s visit to Kaernten/Koroška region. Namely before the classic Black Hole Enduro we held two points races and one 4Fun race and the same number of events is still left today.

After two days and four special stages in two countries the winners of 2021 Black Hole Enduro, also an EWS Gold Qualifier event, are Austrian Yana Dobnig (Team Dorrong) and Slovenian Vid Peršak (Orbea Fox Enduro Team).

From third to top

Vid who won first round of SloEnduro series and skipped the second one was the first favourite and that’s not just because he was racing on home terrain. But on Saturday’s shortened special stage on Petzen’s Thriller track in Austria he didn’t start on top. In difficult wet conditions which caused for the start to be moved down the hill, he finished third after a big mistake. His teammate, Spaniard Gabriel Torralba, was the fastest, Austrian Matthias Stonig finished second and Peršak was only .62 behind Torralba in third. So nothing decided before Sunday’s three special stages in Jamnica on Slovenian side.

Sunday’s weather was not any nicer to the riders from seven countries. A shower after a shower with breaks or just light drizzle in between. But this time the special stages in Jamnica didn’t include the nastiest of trails under wet conditions, the ones that sucked the will for riding bikes out of some of the best in the world three years ago. Of course there was some sliding and lots of dirty bikes, clothes and faces, but the race conditions were relatively normal.

Here Peršak moved into lead after SS2 and kept winning the stages all the way to the end. Finally he won with a gap of 39 seconds over second place junior Miha Smrdel (Slo, MBK Črni Vrh), the SloEnduro leader who started the race in 4th place on Saturday. In Jamnica Smrdel scored two 2nd and a 4th place. Third place went to Torralba who took a 3rd, and 8th and a 6th in Jamnica. German Janik Voth (Propain Factory Enduro) finished 4th overall and Christoph Kofler in 5th overall was the fastest Austrian and fastest master rider of the weekend.

Women

Dobnig who returned to SloEnduro after two years had an easier job. She won all the special stages of the weekend. Gaia Kravanja (KK Črn trn) finished second and Urška Korasa (KD Zverinice), both of Slovenia, finished third.

What the winners said

Vid Peršak: “The conditions were very hard for everyone but I don’t mind, I usually do well in hard conditions, so I didn’t have too much trouble. I’m happy I was able to race at home after a while. The tracks were well prepared, it was the right level of difficulty. It this the riders who can ride were able to prove it here this weekend. Thanks to everyone who made this event happen, especially under the conditions.”

Vid didn’t start the race in the lead. “True, I’m just human too, I can’t win everything. The fact is the competition was quite strong so it wasn’t so easy. I also got home from EWS pretty tired so I’m looking forward to some time off, time to think things over and start training for the rest of the season. If it’s possible I’ll be back to SloEnduro, I find the races very good.”

Yana Dobnig: “The weekend was super fun but very slippery, so much rain but so much fun too. First stage today was pretty tough with slick corners, I slipped once.”

Yana has not been racing EWS this year. “Because of work I am not racing any EWS this year, I will see what’s coming and I hope to be back to SloEnduro soon.”

Short course

The youngest and non-licensed riders competed in last two special stages of the weekend. Blaž Kavčič (KK Završnica) won male U17 and Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) female U17 category while Juš Ažman (KK Završnica) took the male U15. Ožbej Lindenbaum was the fastest in “hobi” class.

Kenda SuperStage

This time the last special stage was chosen as Kenda SuperStage, the Scottish Bomb. It got its name because of bomb craters from WWII and from the Scotts who built it. Oh yeah: Tina Smrdel and Vid Peršak set the fastest times on it and earned prizes from sponsor Kenda Tires.

Complete results here

The ranking

Miha Smrdel stays in the overall series lead. He has 1000 points from a win and two second places. Peršak follows in second with 800 points and Jan Markič (ŠKTD Avče) iz in third with 635 points. Gaia Kravanja stays in the lead in women’s category.

Find complete ranking here

Next in SloEnduro…

See you on August 29th in MTB trail center Kočevje for “big league” round four, the popular Enduro Kočevje! Propositions and registration coming up shortly.

Photos by Urosh Grabner @uroshgrabner

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