“Pál Takáts made it a masterclass in how to race”

After four tasks in the stunning Slovenian Soča valley and visit to Lijak, Hungarian pilot Pál Takáts finished on top of the overall podium at the SRS Naviter Edition. Second was the UK’s Luke Nicol with Matthijs Derks (NLD) in third.

After the fourth task Mette Krum (DNK) was in third place overall. Sadly a tricky final task saw her drop in the overall rankings (there is no FTV/task dropping in the SRS) but she held onto the top spot of the women’s podium. She was joined by China’s Ni Mo and Adel Honti (HUN). In the team competition Team Ozone finished on top ahead of Gin 2 and Airtribune.

The first two tasks saw some classic Slovenian ridge-racing in the Soča valley, before some bad weather in the mountains forced a move of venue to the site of Lijak with views over the Adriatic Sea. A thick layer of cloud at the start of the task made it look tricky. Conditions improved as the sun penetrated the clouds and 101 pilots made it to goal.

Going into task four Pál said that his strategy was to defend his first position, but he won the task. On his social he said “Still can’t believe it but I managed to win another task today. My strategy was only to defend the first position, but staying high for the most part and attacking hard in the right moments paid off! Conditions were a bit more demanding today but thermals were the best so far and I even caught a 5-7m/s up to the last cloudbase. I had a lot of fun! One day left of the competition.” Mette Krum arrived in goal in the top 20 to move into third place overall.

The final task saw a forecast of weak thermals and low base. After waiting it out the clouds cleared and conditions improved with plentiful and strong thermals for the final race to goal. The 46.6km task saw 93 happy pilots in goal. Last in goal was Mette, her worst task of the week which saw her slip from the overall podium. Pál scored a perfect 1,000-point task win to consolidate his top spot.

The competition finished with a prizegiving where Piotr Karolak and Bartlomiej Grudzinski were the lucky winners of Oudies from the event sponsors, Naviter.

The SRS posted, “The SRS in Tolmin, Slovenia was a truly amazing competition: Stunning scenery with views of the Julian Alps right down to Venice and the Adriatic sea.”

RESULTS

Overall

1. Pál Takáts (HUN), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine
2. Luke Nicol (GBR), Gin GTO3 / Gin Genie Race 5
3. Matthijs Derks (NLD), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine

Women

1. Mette Krum (DNK), Gin GTO3 / Gin Genie Race 5
2. Ni Mo (CHN), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine
3. Adel Honti (HUN), Ozone Photon / Woody Valley X-Rated 7

Teams

1. Ozone (Arnold Castro (Photon/Submarine), Rafael Rosa (Photon/Submarine), Pál Takáts (Photon/Submarine), Ulric Jessop (Photon/Submarine))
2. Gin 2 (Thomas Frances (GTO 3/X-Rated 7), Simon Steiner (GTO 3/Genie Race 5), Mark Hayman (GTO 3/Genie Race 5), Gerry McNicol (GTO 3/Genie Race 5))
3. Airtribune (Marius Tanasoiu (Photon/Submarine), Oleg Burlaca (Photon/Arrow), Kuba Sto (Photon/Vissta XC), Tudor Dorobantu (Photon/Genie Race 5))

Lightweight

1. Ni Mo (CHN), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine
2. Timotej Majdic (SVN), Gin GTO 3/ Advance Impress 4
3. Luis Rosenkjer (USA), Ozone Lyght / BogdanFly Zeppelin

Midweight

1. Pál Takáts (HUN), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine
2. Rafael Rosa (ESP), Ozone Photon / Ozone Submarine
3. Luis Pol Bernal (ESP), Gin GTO3 / Gin Genie Race 5

Full results at srs.live