Slovenia’s oldest enduro race started from Lavrič Square for the first time two years ago, this time the final Shimano SuperEtape finishing no too far from downtown.
The month of April is here and this weekend, after a great warm-up at the first SloEnduro Day in Nova Gorica, we are finally starting the points series. The twelfth season opens with the SloEnduro Kamplc in Ajdovščina. This will be the fourteenth edition of the race, which was first organised by the Kampelc club two years before the start of the SloEnduro series at Javornik, not far away from Ajdovščina.
The Field
Exactly 300 riders from nine countries pre-registered, many of whom will take on the long course, which this time will feature six special stages, with nearly 40 km and 1,350 vertical meters of climbing to be overcome to reach the starts of special stages.
In the men’s long course race, the list of names promises a good fight: there is the four-time overall winner of the series and current national champion Vid Peršak (for the first time in the Unior – Sinter Factory Racing jersey), as well as the winner of the series of the last three years, Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh), and also the champion from 2019, Austrian Max Fejer (Team Dorrong). Apart from Fejer, the international riders to watch are Slovak Luboš Stano (MTBiker, 3rd last year in Ajdovščina) and Czech Stanislav Sehnal (Kelly’s Factory Team), multiple Czech downhill champion, who has some experience in enduro. Last year’s Slovenian SloEnduro top ten will not be complete, though, missing are the freshly operated David Ivartnik, who will miss most of the season, and the slightly injured Miha Jerkič, then Jan Polovšak and Miha Tratnik Bajc. In addition to last year’s number 3 Jernej Kavčič (MBK Črni Vrh), number 4 Nejc Huth (Energijateam.com), number 5 Tim Krašovec (Wolf Racing Team), number 8 Peršak and number 10 Maj Babačič (Calcit Bike Team, this is his last year as a junior rider), there is also the national downhill champion Luka Berginc (HDR Team) on the list, the local Tim Jež (Kamplc Racing Team) and others.
The women’s race could be interesting too, but in the absence of serial winner Tina Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh) who will be standing this one out due to healt reasons. Along with a few international riders headed by the experienced World Cup rider Raphaela Richter (Simplon Trailblazers) of Germany, last year’s challenger Maša Komel (KK Črn trn) is joined by Hana Kranjec Žagar (Rajd Ljubljana), a cross-country rider who also tried her hand at downhill last year.
The evergreen Kristjan Medvešček (ŠKTD Avče) will make sure that almost all the former overall SloEnduro champions among the men will be on the long course, with the exception of the first one, Nejc Rutar. The 2014 champion was second fastest last year at Kamplc behind Smrdel and ahead of Stano, and this year he will try his hand in the e-bike category, where there will be a starting field of fourteen – among others, Germany’s Valentin Schleicher (Radon), Jaka Tancik (Energijateam.com), Luka Barut (Črn trn), Marko Fink (KD Zverinice) …
Full list of pre-registered riders
The Course Goes to Town
We are now publishing the course on Friday a week before the race. The special stages are closed to race participants until practice on Saturday, the day before the race.
Similarly to how two years ago in Ajdovščina the big news was that the venue has been moved from Pale to the renovated Lavrič Square, this year’s news is the finish of the last special stage, which starts from Škol hill and finished in the immediate vicinity of the centre of Ajdovščina. The finish is on the meadows behind the primary school.
The fifth special stage, The Ridge, is completely new.
And of course, there is a new sponsor for the “super stage”. It will be coloured bright blue and will be called the Shimano SuperStage. Riders will collect points on selected stages throughout the season for a nice overall prize at the end.
Course Details
On Saturday, training on the course starts at noon, and on Sunday the first rider will start from Lavrič Square at 9.30 AM. The start lists with the start times for the individual stages follow. You will be able to follow the timing live on timing.sportident.com.
Details on SloEnduro Kamplc in propositions
