The fifth round of the year for SloEnduro series points and the thirteenth edition of Slovenian National Enduro Championship could be described with the words: steep, dry, dusty, hot.
The third visit of the SloEnduro series to Mežica in Koroška region in northern Slovenia, hosted by KK Pendalna, also crowned new national champions. For a year, two Koroška riders will wear the Slovenian flag on their sleeves. They are Nežka Libnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem) in the women’s and Vid Peršak (Rajd Ljubljana / AON Racing – Tourne Campervans) in the men’s.
Let’s start at the beginning.
On the slopes of Peca mountain, the organisers have prepared another Koroška classic, and it impressed once again. The Perkmandlc course is already one of the toughest in the series, and the extremely dry conditions made the race even harder. There was more “powder” around the course than in winter sometimes!
The biggest novelty was the Lost Goat stage, already used in the World Series and also in SloEnduro, but this time the start was higher, from the top. It only took the fastest less than five and a half minutes. This was also the Shimano SuperStage and it was ridden as third.
Peršak’s Ninth
Vid Peršak, who became national champion for the first time in 2015 and has won the title seven more times since then, had not the slightest intention of telling his team to order him only “ordinary” jerseys without the flag on the left sleeve for next year. In the short first stage of the A-drog (A-pillar), he beat second-placed Miha Smrdel (MBK Črni Vrh), the reigning vice-champion, by just 47 hundredths of a second, but in the second stage Kanal he increased his advantage to just over five seconds. He gained another three seconds on Lost Goat, so in the fourth and final stage Perkmandlc he could afford to be a good half second behind Smrdel. Peršak won with a total time of 14 minutes, 19 seconds and 9 hundredths. Smrdel, with three second places and one win on stages, was 7 seconds behind him in second place. So silver again for Miha.
Third place and the title of junior national champion went to Maks Struna (KK Završnica), who has also been competing in downhill all season, with his best ever race in enduro. In Mežica, he finished between 3rd and 7th place on stages, and in the end he was almost 35 seconds behind Peršak, but it was enough for a big success, his first SloEnduro junior victory.
Hungarian junior Áron Babó (Rad Company Racing Team), who leads the overall standings, crashed on the first stage and was only 19th, then fought his way through to finish fourth with three third places. He finished as the second junior and also retained the lead in both the overall and junior rankings.
Another junior in fifth place: defending junior national champion Tian Pečnik (KK Ravne na Koroškem) was hoping for another title on home terrain. He was fast, but just behind Struna and Babó, winning the silver medal of the junior national championship.
The bronze medals in both men’s official UCI categories went to the Kamplc Racing Team from Ajdovščina: among the elite with Tim Jež in 6th place overall, and among the juniors with Ian Laharnar in 7th place overall.
Vid: “I have no intention of collecting national titles, but today was really special because I won it in Koroška. It was really special to go on stage today, not like this for a long time. It’s definitely one of the hardest races in SloEnduro, and with a longer stage, it would already be a World Cup day. Every race is also the best for getting used to my bike, every time I ride I get better at it, so I think we’re getting there. If everything goes to plan in the World Cup, I could be in the top 30.”
Max: “This is the best day of my life. It’s really crazy when you experience something like this. It’s my first win, it feels really good. I made a few mistakes, but in the end it all turned out well.
Nežka’s First “Big” Title
First favourite Nežka Libnik has won the U17 title for the last two years, and this year, as a junior, she competed for the first time in the category at the national championships. She won all four stages and won by almost two minutes over Austria’s Alexandra Eckert (Bikeclub Giant Stattegg). Teja Cerar (Golovec Trails), who put on her first number plate this year, took the silver medal of the national championships. The bronze went to the fourth-placed, another junior Ana Inkret (Calcit Bike Team), who returned from a knee injury only two weeks ago in Gorjanci. The fifth one on podium was Austrian Lisa Leeb (Do-Biker Bruck).
Nežka: “I would say it was the most challenging race this year, it’s tough downhill and there are a lot of climbs. The best training before the World Cup next week.”
In Other Long Course Categories
In the amateur category, Matija Šinigoj (Deš Fleš) won the championship, followed by Jaša Šonc (KD Bez zavor) and Matej Prosen (Kamplc).
In the youngest veteran category, Master 1, Nejc Huth (Energijateam.com) once again confirmed his supremacy, with silver going to Rok Bregar (MTB Trbvolje) and bronze to Rožle Mesec (Golovec Trails). In the international competition, Austria’s Tino Huber (Team Dorrong) came second.
In Master 2 it was quite tense, with Sebastjan Stres (Kamplc) starting less well, but by the end he had worked his way to the top, ahead of two locals, the second-placed Primož Doler (Pendalna) and third-placed Jani Hercog (Golovec Trails).
In master 3 only Branko Maček (Pendalna) and Martin Brus (Kamplc) competed, Maček won the duel.
In the e-bike category, with no official national title, Sebastian Prinčič (MTB club Boshk) surprised the home riders, second-placed Vid Planko (Pendalna) and third-placed Blaž Hölcl (Ravne), with a win.
On Shorter Courses
Perhaps the surprise of the day was the upset in the most numerous and extremely evenly contested category of the U17 men by Nik Potočan (Ravne). Ninth in the rankings, he started with the third fastest time on the first of the three stages, then stormed to the top with two wins on the next two stages and celebrated a big victory in front of the loud home fans.
He was followed by Hungary’s Mátyás Csizmazia (Vesc Cycling Team) and Italy’s Davide Zinutti (AB SantaCruz Vittoria Team), and only then, with a noticeable gap, by this year’s two-time winner and leader of the rankings Lenart Sever (KK Črn trn), who won the silver medal of the national championship, and Florjan Resman (Završnica), who won the bronze.
Among the U17 girls, only Lana Kuzma (Črn trn) competed for the title and was beaten by Slovak Eliška Jourová (Underwood Cycling Lab).
Among the U15 boys, the top spot was taken by the standard Kamplc duo, this time (for the third time this year) by Rene Kovač ahead of Tjaž Stres, with Rok Gleščič (Ravne) taking bronze. Among the girls, it was Eva Podvornik (ŠD Grabit) who turned the race in her favour in the last stage, beating Maša Gregorc (SD Strahovica) by 7 seconds, who had beaten her in the last two races and who won the first two stages this time too. Gaja Šuštar (Golovec trails) was third.
In the 4Fun category, Matej Grnjak won on the same three stage course.
In the under-13 category, Tin Adam (427 Savage Squad) won ahead of Rok Žavbi (Strahovica) and Vasilij Lavrenčič (Črn trn), while Tin’s clubmate Lija Leber was again the only female competitor.
All SloEnduro Perkmandlc and National Championship Results
In Series Standings
The SloEnduro series is going on a well-deserved summer break. Only two races are left for September, the SloEnduro Golovec trails in Ljubljana on 6 and 7 and the SloEnduro Pohorje Maribor on 20 and 21.
Áron Babó remains at the top of the men’s rankings over the summer, but his lead over the now second-placed Smrdel is only 110 points. Laharnar is third, Luboš Stano slipped to 4th and Struna climbed to 5th.
Nežka Libnik has all the points available, 2000 from five races. Slovak Valentina Grendova is still second, third-placed Neža Štern (MTB klub Kranj) didn’t start this time due to ill health, so Nežka’s lead is growing even faster, and Damjana Munih Kacafura (TCS Gravity) and Maja Vojska (MBK Črni Vrh) are also closing in.
Among the junior men, Struna is already challenging Laharnar for second place.
Among the U17 men, Sever still has a nice advantage, with Csizmazia second and Aljaž Prosen (Kamplc) third, although this time he took home slightly less points for 11th place.
All SloEnduro Series Standings
Direction Italy
For the selected riders, the next two weeks will see two World Cup races in Italy, in Val di Fassa and La Thuile. The team will be made up of elite riders Vid Peršak, Miha Smrdel and David Ivartnik, female junior Nežka Libnik and male juniors Ian Laharnar, Blaž Stres, Maks Struna and Van Prosenik.
SloEnduro returns in September!
Photos Matej Lovrič / Obalna BIKE scena
