The winners of round one of 20chocolate Downhill Cup<\/strong> and round two of auner Austrian Gravity Series<\/strong> are Slovenians: Tina Smrdel<\/strong> (MBK \u010crni Vrh) in women’s and Luka Berginc<\/strong> (DH Visit Pohorje) in men’s race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 161 rider from 8 countries zip-tied their number plates to their bikes, the list of starters and finishers in the final run was notably shorter due to heavy conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the rain the timetable of the single day event was cut short since the organizers agreed with the commissaires to leave out the seeding run. So the final run start list was prepared by just reversing the seeding run start list-with lowest number at the end of the list. The final started at 2 pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The track held up well in wet conditions, just some steep and rooted sections ruined the day for some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In women\u2019s (elite + junior) category the closest rival to Tina Smrdel<\/strong>, the reigning enduro National champions and SloEnduro leader, was Katarina Primo\u017ei\u010d<\/strong> (BATT) who returned to racing after three seasons of absence. Steffanie Grossmann<\/strong> (Wednesday Riders), a Namibian living in Austria, finished third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The racing was much tighter in women’s overall category with some fast U17 women on course. The Austrian Rosa Zierl<\/strong> (MTB & Downhill Verein Tirol), the former U15 European champion, was just .96 slower than Smrdel, and the Hungarian Abigel Halmai<\/strong> (Osmos Gravity Team) just 1.75 behind Smrdel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00bbI didn’t expect such an outcome with the U17 girls, I just wanted a fast run for myself. The track was a bit tricky in some parts because of the conditions, but I managed to solve everything and set the fastest time.\u00ab<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Luka Berginc, the 2022 iXS European Cup champion, is knocking on the World Cup door. But after a recent wrist injury he decided to skip Val di Sole and come to Petzen. His main rivals were obvious: <\/strong>Jan Cimperman (MTB Trbovlje), the winner of auner 2023 Austrian Gravity Series round 1 in Bikepark K\u00f6nigsberg, 2022 Slovenia Cup champion and Berginc’s national team mate; <\/strong>Valentin Rohrmoser (Bike Club Schladming Dachstein), 2022 auner Austrian Gravity Series champion and 2nd placed from K\u00f6nigsberg; and <\/strong>Nico Ofner (Radlager Racing Division), the 3rd placed in K\u00f6nigsberg.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rohrmoser fell behind and finished in 10th place in elite men. Ofner was leading with number 5 plate when Berginc, number 2, improved his time by 6.78. Luka’s time of 2:39.95 remained the fastest even with number 1 Jan Cimperman across the line. Cimperman finished .62 behind Ofner after winning in K\u00f6nigsberg in the end of May he had to settle for third this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00bbI find the track at Peca very good and interesting. It has slow and fast sections, some old school ski slopes, it’s really cool. I didn’t surprise myself with a time under 2 minutes, 40 seconds. If there were more fast riders at the start it would be clear that it can be improved by 5, 6, even 7 seconds. I was riding conservatively, nothing wild, I don’t want to hurt the wrist again.\u00ab<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00bbMy wrist is not ready for Val di Sole, the track there is rougher with more compressions. It was tough enough here. I’ll be back for the World Cup in the second part of the season.\u00ab<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00bbWe go for the national titles next weekend. Too bad Jure (\u017dabjek) is injured, so it should be mostly \u017dak (Gomil\u0161\u010dek), Jan (Cimperman) and myself. It should be interesting, the track at Sori\u0161ka planina is the best, and the crowd and the atmosphere should also be there.\u00ab<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The Austrian Christoph Scheffczyk<\/strong> (DH Team Tirol) won in men’s junior (U19) category in front of two Slovenians, Maj Baba\u010di\u010d<\/strong> (Calcit Bike Team) in second and Lars Kova\u010di\u010d<\/strong> (\u0160D Supersnurf) in third place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the winner in men’s U17 category was faster than all the juniors. Slovenian rider A\u017ebe Kalin\u0161ek<\/strong> (Wolf Racing Team by Wheelbase) registered the second fastest time of the day. The Austrian Mo Berka<\/strong> (Sportunion Hinterbr\u00fchl) took second and Slovenian Lovro Kojzek<\/strong> (KK Ravne) third in his category. With 39 riders this was also the largest category. The female U17 winner Rosa Zierl is already mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Slovenian Tilen Ferk<\/strong> (BATT) won in men’s amateur category while the Austrians kept the wins at home in masters: Jakob Eisner<\/strong> in master 1 and Michael Bader<\/strong> (Velochicks \/ Trittmeister) in master 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the style of SloEnduro series Jakob Pra\u010dek<\/strong> (Kamplc Racing Team) stepped on top of the podium in under 15 boys, Anton Zierl<\/strong> (MTB & Downhillverein Tirol) was second and Svit Kunaver Smolkovi\u010d (MTB klub Kranj Scott Team) third. Lynn Maria Berger<\/strong> (SCM Pinzgabikers) was the only U15 girl on course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U13, the youngest category of the series, had a special track at the bottom on the mountain. Gal Novak<\/strong> (KD Rajd) was the fastest of the category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The riders will have just enough time to clean and lube their bikes and wash and dry their gear. This weekend 20chocolate Downhill Cup stops at Sori\u0161ka planina for round two. Organized by Sori\u0161ka planina resort and MTB \u017delezniki club the DH Sor’ca race will be held for the eight time. For third year in a row this will also be the Slovenian Downhill National Championships race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 1650 m track from Lajnar mountain with 280 m of vertical drop is a classic by now, yet with some changes every year. The Sori\u0161ka planina resort with the finish area by the parking lot and the Brunarica (Log house) restaurant next to it is a venue where everyone likes to return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luka Berginc, the winner of Peca, is a two times winner at Sori\u0161ka planina (2017 and 2021). Last year \u017dak Gomil\u0161\u010dek took the title here. This year Jure \u017dabjek is injured so the all-time ranking of men’s elite National Champions remains unchanged with three riders with four titles each: apart from \u017dabjek these are Miran Vauh and Janez Gra\u0161i\u010d. The 6 times National Champion Monika Hrastnik will also be at the start. With some riders injured we are hoping for some SloEnduro riders to show up as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Photos by Luka Zavodnik in Friedrich Simon Kugi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Austria and at least a little bit Slovenia as well have a new downhill race. The first Downhill Peca\/Petzen race united the Slovenian 20chocolate Downhill Cup with the auner Austrian Gravity Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":52607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5,5],"tags":[50,50],"blocksy_meta":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52609"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52636,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52609\/revisions\/52636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slodhcup.pumptrack.si\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tina Smrdel challenged by U17 girls<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"tina](\"https:\/\/sloveniadownhillcup.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/peca23-2_tsmrdel_LZ.jpg\")
![\"rosa](\"https:\/\/sloveniadownhillcup.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/peca23-3_rzierl_FSG-1280x853.jpg\")
Tina Smrdel:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Berginc in a class of his own<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"luka](\"https:\/\/sloveniadownhillcup.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/peca23-4_berginc1_FSG-1280x853.jpg\")
![\"nico](\"https:\/\/sloveniadownhillcup.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/peca23-5_ofner_FSG-1280x853.jpg\")
Luka Berginc:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sloveniadownhillcup.si\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/peca23-17_podium_m_LZ.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe fast U17 Kalin\u0161ek and other category winners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSori\u0161ka planina next and right away!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Details on DH Sor’ca here<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n