Junior Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) and rookie Tjaša Fifer (ŠD Grabit), who is not new to two-wheeled racing, were the fastest at the second stop of SloEnduro series in red hot Gorjanci hills in Southern Slovenia.
Members of Zverinice team from Novo mesto first held their enduro race two years ago. Enduro Gorjanci was already scheduled for 2020 SloEnduro series but had to be cancelled due to the epidemics.
Now it was time! 115 riders from Austria, Italy and Slovenia turned up to race on the trails on the northern side of Gorjanci hills range on Slovenian-Croatian border. Just over half of them raced on the complete course with three special stages and the rest of them (U15, U17 and hobi) on a shorter one. It consisted of the first two special stages but was in fact a half course since the third one of the long one was the 1st and 2nd stitched together into one.
The total of climbing on the long course including the morning training ride was 1450 vertical meters and total of special stages was 1050 vertical meters. Nobody was too eager to climb the dusty dirt roads in temperatures well over 30 degrees.
Fight for top
Jan Markič (ŠKTD Avče), the 2019 Slovenian enduro champion, was in the lead after SS1 with just over 2 seconds on junior Miha Smrdel. Smrdel finished second at round 1, the Kamplc enduro in Ajdovščina, only behind Vid Peršak, and this was clearly Miha’s campaign for his first SloEnduro win.
Smrdel took the lead after SS2 by over 1.5 second over Markič. Markič was 4th fastest on SS2 with Jakob Smolnikar and Nejc Huth (both of Energijateam.com) between him and Smrdel.
SS3, also the Kenda SuperStage, was a long one by Slovenian standards. Only Miha Smrdel managed to finish it under 6 minutes. Markič was 20 seconds behind and than meant victory for Smrdel by over 20 seconds. Smrdel is also a very strong cross-country rider and that didn’t hurt because there was quite and uphill sprint on SS3.
Jan Štucin (Pedal Racing Team) was third fastest on the final stage and David Ivartnik (Energijateam.com) earned the third overall podium spot by finishing 3rd, 7th and 5th in the stages.
Women
Women’s racing was just as exciting despite of a much smaller field. Local rider Urška Korasa (KD Zverinice) was leading after first two stages by just over one second. She was chased by Tjaša Fifer who went on to have a great SS3. The 24-year old motorcycle enduro racer beat Korasa by 15 seconds, taking the overall win. She had her mtb enduro debut two weeks ago at a SloEnduro 4Fun race in Ilirska Bistrica. Gaia Kravanja (KK Črn trn), the Kamplc enduro winner, finished third.
Categories
You may have guessed that Smrdel was the fastest junior male rider of the day and Markič won men’s “elite” category. Huth won the master 1 and Miha Deu won master 2 category. There were no finishers in master 3.
U15 rider Ažbe Kalinšek (Bikehanic – 20 Chocolate) was (again) the fastest on the short course in front of U15 rival Juš Ažman (KK Završnica) and U17 winner Jan Polovšak (KK Ravne).
Miha’s sister Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) is practically unbeatable in female U17 category. Not only that, on SS1 and SS2 she was also notably faster than women racing the full course.
Kenda SuperStage
Miha Smrdel and Tjaša Fifer are also the winners of Kenda SuperStage, the third special stage of the day. Both with big gaps on their rivals.
The prologue and the helicopter flight
After a long time we had a prologue in SloEnduro, even if just an unofficial, promotional one that was not included in Sunday’s race but brought some nice prizes. On late Saturday afternoon some 40 riders raced on a short but well designed track near Novo mesto downtown. Tina Smrdel and Jan Markič were the fastest.
The other of the highlights of the first SloEnduro race in these parts of Slovenia was a helicopter flight for five winners just before the award presentation, provided by event sponsors Flycom. Well, two of them returned a bit pale and one failed to turn up at the award ceremony. The combination of exhaustion after a hot race and flying was not a great one but then some rest and sweets helped.
Complete results here
Next in SloEnduro …
See you on July 17 and 18 at round three, the Black Hole Enduro on the Slovenian-Austrian border in Koroška/Kaernten region. Yes, there are two race days! Propositions and registration this week. This is also an Enduro World Series Qualifier event.
Photos by Tadej Bernik @bernik_photoforyou
