DH Sor’ca: New Names at the Top!

New winners in all three main men’s categories – U17, U19 junior men and elite – at the third round of the 20chocolate Downhill Cup on Soriška planina. In the women’s category, Tina Smrdel returned to the top step of the podium.

After Maribor and Kranjska Gora, the 20chocolate series visited Soriška planina. The eighth Downhill Sor’ca also marked ten years since the first race on Soriška planina and a new main organiser – the event was hosted by the Omikron Sports Association from Železniki in cooperation with the Soriška planina ski resort and the original organisers MTB Železniki.

With the summer heat in the valley, the conditions for the competition at an altitude between 1287 and 1550 metres were ideal. The now classic 1650 m long course from Lajnar was dry and fast, as much as the many turns and roots would allow.

Enduro Rider Jerkič – This Time all the Way to the Top

Ajdovščina’s Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn) is mainly dedicated to the enduro discipline, where last year, before his injury in his final junior season, he was already at the top of SloEnduro. But he is far from being without success in downhill, even though he is doing it on an enduro bike. Two years ago he won the junior downhill category at Kope, last year he was second at Soriška planina, and this year, in his first season in the elite ranks, he won bronze at the national championships in Kranjska Gora. Now he has crowned his downhill speed with a downhill victory at Soriška planina!

Miha was already the fastest in the seeding run, with only four hundredths of a second ahead of Žak Gomilšček (Wolf Racing Team), the winner of Soriška planina two years ago and this year’s winner of Maribor. In the absence of the slightly injured Luka Berginec, Gomilšček was undoubtedly the first favourite. Third in the seeding was the fresh national champion Tilen Leban (Deš Fleš).

In the final, with three men remaining on track and in the start gate, the hot seat was occupied by Croatian Frane Medić (BK Crikvenica), the fourth fastest from the seeding run. Leban failed to take the lead and crossed the finish line in third place, with Matic Kvas (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) between him and Medić. Then Gomilšček took the lead, improving his result and the classification by two and a half seconds. A time of two minutes, 34 seconds and 51 hundredths of a second could have been enough for the win. The outcome was in the hands of Jerkič, who was 27 hundredths of a second faster!

Final order of the top five: Jerkič, Gomilšček, Medić, Kvas and Leban.

“In the final run I more or less hit all the lines, pushed it everywhere and rode the whole course as I had planned. I didn’t think too much about being on an enduro bike, I just gave it my all. Definitely a downhill bike would have come in handy, but the enduro bike didn’t feel too bad. I trained and prepared almost exclusively for enduro, with DH races also in the plan, but only ‘for the sake of it’. But things could change.”
Miha Jerkič

In the Cup standings, Gomilšček extended his lead, Leban remained second, Jerkič moved up to third, Medić to fourth and Kvas to fifth.

Tina Still Finding Her Speed

Tina Smrdel, the second lady of Slovenian downhill after Špela Horvat’s move to freeride, missed the first part of the season this year due to her school final exams and returned two weeks ago with a silver medal at the national championships. In Monika’s absence, she was the first favourite, with only junior Maša Komel (Črn trn) and U17 rider Eva Zala Stergar (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team) as her rivals. This was also the order of the National Championships two weeks ago behind the winner Monika Hrastnik, and the order remained the same in both time trials at Soriška planina. The margins also remained similar in both runs, the seeding and the final.

“It went pretty well, I’m more satisfied with the qualifying than the final, because I made a few small mistakes. I’m not quite back in my rhythm yet, there are a lot of roots on the track, so my arms were quite sore at the end. I need to make up for the training I missed before I go back to enduro racing.”
Tina Smrdel

Smrdel, who missed Maribor, took the overall lead with a point over Komel, with previous leader Stergar in third.

Upsets in the Juniors

In the junior male category, Aljaž Bogataj (Rajd Ljubljana), 6th in the national championship, surprised. He was also 6th in the seeding, but set a time in the final that resisted the attacks of his rivals until the end. First win for Aljaž Bogataj! Anže Kofjač was 68 hundredths of a second behind in second place, Maks Struna (both KK Završnica) five hundredths down in third. The national champion Matej Osolin, also the leader in the cup standings and the fastest in the ranking, finished 4th with only one second and one hundredth of a second behind the winner.

A similarly surprising result was achieved in the U17 mens, where Svit Kunaver Smolkovič, also a member of Rajd Ljubljana, the fifth-placed finisher from Maribor and from Kranjska Gora, took his first victory. Svit was already the fastest in the seeding, followed by Tine Gračner (Golovec trails) in second and Izak Štrubelj (Bikehanic Lumar) in third place.

In the U15 boys’ category, we also had a new winner, Maks Fošnarič (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team). In the U13 boys’ category, Gal Novak (Rajd Ljubljana) repeated his victory from Kranjska Gora.

In the master category, Marko Fink (KD Zverinice) won, and among the amateurs, Gal Jevšenak Kodrič (35 Crew).

All results from DH Sor’ca 2024

In addition to Berginc, some younger riders also missed the race, as they will be competing in the iXS European Cup round in Spain next weekend. Jakob Praček, the national champion and leader of the U15 boys’ category, competed in Rookies Cup race in Austria.

Soriška Planina Has a Park

After a decade of racing, Soriška planina now has a mountain bike park. In addition to the downhill track, to which parallel easier sections have been added to make it suitable for a wider range of visitors, another easier track has been opened. Transport to the top is by the Lajnar chairlift, which will operate daily from next weekend until 27 August, and on weekends in the pre- and post-season.

An additional attraction remains the combined tour with an epic descent to Podbrdo and a return by shuttle. During the DH Sor’ca we also organised a free guided tour of the Let’s Ride Bikes! Initiative by the Slovenia Cycling.

Visiting Our Northern Neighbours

The Slovenian 20chocolate Downhill Cup continues on 27 July with a visit to the auner Austrian Gravity Series. The second race of their series, which will also count as the fourth race of ours, will take place in the Bike Park Lienz in East Tyrol.