The downhill racing season is on! Even if Saturday’s Golovec Trails Test Day was just a simulation of a downhill race, its simple format and short, not extremely demanding track were great to open the season of 20chocolate Downhill Cup, the Slovenian national series.
105 riders tested their early season speed on a relatively short track with roughly 100 m of vertical drop in Golovec Trails system in the capital city of Ljubljana, a combination of permanent trails and some freshly built sections. There were lots of young riders, including a number from the discipline of enduro, some rookies and some of the fastest in the country with the exception of those who have been getting ready for the upcoming season out of the country.
In fact the downhill bikes were in a minority since enduro bikes were just as fast on most of the track. The track was open for timed laps for five hours and in that time the riders were able to do an unlimited number of runs. Two fastest times by each rider were combined for the final result. The most enduring riders did eleven laps which also meant at least 1100 vertical meters of climbing (riding or hiking) on the own power.
The riders started the five hour window with practice runs, then set some fast times, then rested a bit and returned with some last minute runs, trying to improve their times. The rain spared the event but through the many runs (close to a thousand!) the track changed, getting faster in some parts while the turns offered less and less support and grip. Some went for a limited number of laps while the other kept shaving seconds off their times all day long. Some even skipped clocking in with their timing transponders regularly to hide their achievement from the competition…
Fight for the top
In the end the reigning iXS European Downhill Cup champion and 2021 National Champion Luka Beginc (DGK Pohorje – Spank Team Maribor) finished on top of the list. He got there with his last two runs, laps numbered 8 and 9.
Until then it was the Golovec local Jure Žabjek (Unior – Sinter Factory Racing), the five time National Champion and Slovenia’s internationally most successful downhill racer of all times who kept the lead after a late start and early finish. Jure just had two fast runs with a lunch break at home in between, plus one with a stop and a failed one. His fastest time was just .18 off Berginc’s fastest time of 1 minute and 22.23 seconds. The gap between their combined times was .94.
Enduro racer David Ivartnik (Golovec trails), this time also event director, finished third, followed by the fast Ljubljana Frenchman and teammate Ange Jamin in fourth and the fastest junior Miha Jerkič (KK Črn trn), currently Slovenia’s fastest enduro junior who already dabbed in downhill last year, in fifth place.
In women’s field the experienced Austrian World Cup rider Helene Fruhwirth (Cranksetter) beat her only competitor, the local Nela Halilović (Golovec trails), while there were also two younger female riders on course from U19 and U17 categories.
There was quite a battle in men’s U17 category where Tine Gračner (Golovec trails) finished in first place with seventh time overall. There were 22 riders in U15 boys with a surprise win of Gabriel Nosan who improved his position from run to run. In the youngest U13 category the neighbours from the other side of town challenged the local boys and Gal Novak (Rajd Ljubljana) stepped on the highest step.
In younger veteran category, the master 1 men, Mitja Potočin (KD Hrastnik) set the best combined time in his 11 runs while the EWS masters champion, Olympian and 1995 national DH champ Primož Štrancar (Orbea FOX Enduro Team) took the honours in master 2.
Some serious racing even if no series points were awarded.
Helene and Nela 
The top three
Quotes
Luka Berginc: »I find the race format very interesting. I think it may stay around. You come for a day, do your runs, have a beer… All good! My tactics were to get to know the track in first three to four runs, then attack. It worked, my last run was the fastest!«
Jure Žabjek: »A great event. A nice season opener and an interesting way of racing. By the end the track also got pretty interesting to race on.«
Helene Fruhwirth: »When I heard I can do as many runs as I wanted I had to come and race here. Normally you just get one try. This format is perfect for my preparation for race season, a good way to test one’s limits. You can analyse each run with your riding buddy and talk about the lines. I improved each run by one or two seconds and at the end I ran out of power, not out of motivation.«
It started in 2010
Some browsing through the history showed that the first training race was held on Golovec back in 2012. But even earlier, in 2010, the first »test event« was held in Trbovlje with the same format used this weekend at Golovec.
Enjoy the retro video, the video from Golovec follows!
Photos by Anže Furlan @anzee74