Tina Smrdel takes one more in women’s, a suprise visit from Southern hemisphere in men’s race on the technical penultimate points race of the season.
Third time to Dolenjska region in Southeastern Slovenia, above the town of Novo mesto, onto the trails on Gorjanci mountains. For the first time in September, in the last part of the SloEnduro season and after the summer racing break.
The organizers from Zverinice (Beasts) club prepared four special stages between Trdinov vrh peak and the popular venue at the hunting lodge, two of them freshly built. Due to some tight and twisted sections, where it was not possible to develop speed, these new trails were not very popular with some riders. Technical, not in the sense of fearing for your life, but in the sense that gaps show up quickly between those who find the flow and those who don’t.
Just over »a kilo« of vertical meters of climbing per day and the weather was not too hot.
A surprise visit
The 22-year-old South African Keira Duncan (SOUT) was an unknown to anyone who might not have done at least a little googling to find out about his achievements. The lightweight rider became national enduro champion as a junior, and has finished second at the national championships for the last two years. He won the first three stages on Gorjanci on a bike of South African brand and production, and has already built up a good lead over the chasers. In the last stage, the Spar Online SuperStage, which was just over 6 minutes long, he could afford to be beaten by just under a second by Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh), the series leader and two-time winner of Gorjanci.
Miha was far from having his best day, finishing two stages in 4th and one in 3rd, while his SuperStage win secured him second place overall.
In the first stage of the day, for example, the closest to Duncan was Croatian cross-country champion Fran Bošnjak (BBK Šišmiš), who was only two seconds behind him, but was later slowed down by a malfunction (he replaced a broken brake lever with… a coat hanger?) and finished the race in 11th place. In the second stage, Jan Markič (ŠKTD Avče) was flying in his first SloEnduro race this year, he was 2nd fastest and finished the day in fifth. In the third stage, Austria’s Max Fejer (Team Dorrong), the 2019 SloEnduro champion, secured third place with the second best time. Between Fejer and Markič, Jernej Kavčič (MBK Črni Vrh) secured fourth place.
Keira:
»It’s hard to put it into words, I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s been an amazing weekend, I’ve met so many good people. The trails are really amazing, I’d actually really like to head out and ride the trails again.
I’m really pleased I’ve managed to get the result that I did. I had a very clean day.«
Miha:
“The trails were interesting, very technical. I rode well, nothing went wrong. I think I started a bit too slowly, but it probably wouldn’t have changed the result. Keira rode really well and deserved to win. The race was very well organised, everything went as it should.”
Results men overall
- Keira Duncan (SA, SOUT) 15:53,71
- Miha Smrdel (SLO, MBK Črni Vrh) +14,93
- Max Fejer (AUT, Team Dorrong) +31,93
- Jernej Kavčič (SLO, MBK Črni Vrh) +37,28
- Jan Markič (SLO, ŠKTD Avče) +40,71
Tina not letting go
If Miha Smrdel can only be beaten in the men’s races by Vid Peršak or one of the visiting international riders (or by himself, of course), then apparently his sister Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) can only be prevented from winning a race in the domestic series by a big crash or a fast guest from abroad, as was the case in the first two races this year.
At Gorjanci she won with almost two minutes’ advantage over the runner-up Maša Komel (KK Črn trn), with Lucija Mlinar (KK Ravne) in third place. All three are juniors, who left behind all their older rivals, so there is nothing to fear for the future of Slovenian enduro at the moment.
Tina:
“The weekend was pretty awesome. I’m not really happy with all the riding, but in the end I think it was okay. I will enter another downhill race this season, I think it’s just Sljeme left, and then to the SloEnduro final in Grožnjan.”
Standings before the final
Tina Smrdel has a strong lead before the series final and now cannot lose the overall title anymore, even theoretically.
In the men’s standing, Miha Smrdel remains in the lead. Nejc Huth (Energijateam.com), who surprisingly missed the Gorjanci race, slipped from second to 4th place. Smrdel’s teammate Jernej Kavčič went from third to second, David Ivartnik (Golovec trails) also earned enough points with a 7th to move from fourth to third and ahead of Huth in the overall.
In the long course categories
Among the U19 junior men, Jan Polovšak (Bosch Black Hole Enduro Team) was the fastest for the second time this year, this time in 7th place overall on the long course. The next two juniors, Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn) and local Tilen Zupan (KD Zverinice) finished far behind in 18th and 19th place.
In the amateur category, Nejc Šikman (ŠD Grabit) won in 14th place overall, one place ahead of the fastest veteran of the day, local Mark Fink (KD Zverinice), winner of the master 1 category. In the older veteran categories, Grega Nagode (Energijateam.com) won once again in master 2 and Martin Brus (Kamplc Racing Team) in master 3.
In the e-bike category with an additional powerstage, a short climb, the local Aleš Padaršič emerged as winner. After almost 20 minutes of “net” racing, he beat second-placed Anže Obolnar (Golovec Trails) by 71 hundredths of a second.
On the short course
The three-stage race saw a tight battle for the win among the U17 men, with Matej Osolin (Calcit Bike Team) winning for the first time ahead of Ažbe Kalinšek (Wolf Racing by Wheelbase) and Tine Gračner (Golovec Trails). In the junior women’s race, Nežka Libnik (Bosch Black Hole Enduro Team) remained undefeated.
In the U15 boys category, Aljaž Prosen (Kamplc Racing Team) won ahead of Svit Kunaver Smolkovič (MTB club Kranj Scott Team) and teammate Jakob Praček, while in the girls’ category Zala Krečič (Kamplc Racing Team) faced no competition.
Mario Pintar (MTB Železniki) won the 4fun category.
Under 13
The youngest competed on two special stages. Jure Berginc (Rajd Ljubljana) won the boys’ race and Eva Podvornik (MTB club Kranj Scott team) won the girls’ race.
All SloEnduro Gorjanci results
Standings after round six of the series coming soon
Coming up next…
In the 2023 season, we will race for points only once more: on 1 October at the classic final in Grožnjan, Istria peninsula, Croatia! Propositions and registration coming soon.
Before that, the Enduro Golovec trails, the promotional race of SloEnduro and the Ljubljana MTB vikend festival, is just around the corner. 16th and 17th of September in Ljubljana, all the info and registration here.
Photos by Matej Lovrič @obalnabikescena
