Morning Session

The Sprint event dominated proceedings for the morning session on day four of the 2011 UCI Track Cycling Masters World Championships.

Men’s 35-39 Sprint
The early rounds of the sprint competition went pretty much to seeding with no major surprises outside of the number one seed, Sky Christopherson of the USA not starting having qualified fastest.

With Christopherson out, the door was open for the other qualifiers to do their best to get through to the third round. As expected, the qualifying times were a fairly good guide as to who was in form and who wasn’t and in round 3, second fastest qualifier Neil Campbell (Gbr) meets seventh fastest Per Bjesse (USA) who won his second round rep to stay in the competition.

Third fastest qualifier Fabian Keiser (Sui) will race fifth fastest Yann Dujaerrier (Fra) while ninth fastest Wesley Pierce (USA) has done well to get through to round 3 and he meets 15th fastest Richard St Pierre who came back through the repechages in round 2.

Men’s 40-44 Sprint
A gold medal winner already, Australia’s Gavin White continued to show good form when he was the only rider under 11 seconds in the flying 200m for the Men’s 40-44 Sprint. White then progressed through the early rounds untroubled and will race against Javier Ardana (Arg) in round 3.

Also getting through to round 3 was second fastest qualifier Aderito Dacruz (Fra) who races Allen Vugrinicic (USA) while Britain’s Neil Potter also came through the early rounds unscathed and races Edgardo Giovanni (Arg).

Men’s 45-49 Scratch Qualifying
Run over a distance of 20 laps (5K), 12 riders from each heat qualified for the final this evening – a British one-two-three in the second heat.

Heat 1
1.Michael Bevan (RSA)
2. Patrick Marcucci (Aus)
3. German Gomez (Arg)
4. Andres Cardona (Col)
5. Adrian Ward (Gbr)
6. Ian Greenstreet (Gbr)
7. David Klipper (Gbr)
8. Michael Blasczyk (ger)
9. Colin Parkinson (Gbr)
10. Adrian Adgar (Gbr)
11. David Gulick (USA)
12. Trevor Burke (Gbr)

Heat 2
1. Stephen Clayton, (Gbr)
2. William Fotheringham (Gbr)
3. Peter Ettles (Gbr)
4. Thomas Kapuste (Ger)
5. Andrew Jackson (Gbr)
6. Vigen Sarkisian (Rus)
7. Brian Pool (Gbr)
8. Geoffrey Baxter (Aus)
9. Paul Whatmough (Gbr)
10. Eric Bonneau (Fra)
11. Kerry Hartford (New Zealand)
12. Douw Grundling (RSA)

Men’s 50-54 Scratch Qualifying
Two heats were needed for the Men’s 50-54 Scratch race to find the 24 riders for the final and in both heats there was a varied mix of riders from around the world managing to get through their heats over a distance of 20 laps (5K). The aim for the riders was to get through the event with minimum damage to their legs ahead of the evenings final and those making it through were as follows:

Heat 1
1. Claus Christiansen (Den)
2. Ferruccio Veschetti (Ita)
3. Shaun Wallace (USA)
4. Vladimir Zyrianov (Rus)
5. Rubiel Cortes (Col)
6. Jorge Zoric (Arg)
7. Franisco Lombardo (Arg)
8. David Mills (Gbr)
9. Cecil Bernard (USA)
10. Neville Ackerman (RSA)
11. Neil Stainthorpe (Gbr)
12. Gordon Aubrey (USA)

Heat 2
1. Michael Popplewell, (Aus)
2. Stephane Lebeau (Can)
3. Bernado Figueroa (Col)
4. Ivor Reid (Scotland)
5. Abel Luna (Arg)
6. Trevor Bradbury (gbr)
7. Courtney Rowe (Wales)
8. Sixten Wackstrom (Fin)
9. Ted Kicey (USA)
10. Tony Trigg (Gbr)
11. Paul Caton (gbr)
12. Miguel Rossi (Arg)

Evening Session
The fourth evening of the UCI Track Cycling World Masters Championships saw ten titles awarded to riders after a night of sprinting, time trials and bunch races for men and women. There was also the added bonus for Masters riders that the Championships will be continuing at Manchester for at least two more years and in 2012, the event will be held between October 6 to 14.

Men's 35-39 Sprint
The evening session commenced with Round 3 of the sprint and in the first heat Wesley Pierce (USA) beat Richard St Pierre (Gbr) in a straight forward drag race to the line. Neil Campbell (Gbr) was up next and he too had an easy victory against Per Bjesse (USA). The final heat saw a much more tactical race between Yann Dujaerrier (Fra) who after a battle with Fabian Keiser (Sui), managed to get his front wheel across the line first.

For the losers in each of the heats, there was a single repechage where Richard St Pierre (Gbr) went for a long for a long one and just made it to the line ahead of Fabian Keiser (Sui) and Per Bjesse (USA).

There were no surprises in the Semi Finals and with many of the riders having already faced each other during the previous rounds, it was no surprise when Wesley Pierce (USA) beat Richard St Pierre (Gbr) two rides to nil, while Neil Campbell (Gbr) had a slightly tougher battle with Yann Dujaerrier of France to reach the gold medal final.

Finals
In the Bronze medal final, Yann Dujaerrier of France made light work of seeing off the challenge from Britain’s Richard St Pierre and Neil Campbell followed that up by equally having far too much power and speed for Wesley Pierce (USA) to win the Gold medal matches two to nil. Campbell was both tactically and physically better and seemed very controlled in the way he waited for his moment to pass, did so and then sped away from the US rider as he liked. It was Campbell’s first Masters World title.

1. Neil Campbell (Gbr)
2. Wesley Pierce (USA)
3. Yann Dujaerrier (Fra)
4. Richard St Pierre (Gbr)
5. Per Bejess (USA)
6. Fabian Keiser (Sui)

Men's 40-44 Sprint
There was another Gold medal for the powerful Australian Gavin White in the Men’s 40-44 Sprint as he went through the competition hardly stretched by his rivals. White breezed through the third round beating Javier Ardana (Arg) pretty easily but in contrast, there were some photo finishes needed to decide the other two heats.

Aderito Dacruz of France managed to beat Allen Vugrinicic (USA) with a very well timed throw of the bike at the line in a close finish with the US rider. Likewise, Edgardo Giovanni (Arg) upset the form guide by then beating Britain’s Neil Potter in a photo finish.

The losers from round three had one more chance in the repechage, where Neil Potter was swamped as Javier Ardana beat Allen Vugrinicic with Potter third and out of the competition.

It was a similar story in the Semi Finals; White still without anyone to stretch him and the heat between Edgardo Giovanni (Arg) and Aderito Dacruz (Fra) an eventful one. In the first match, Giovanni crossed the line first but Dacruz protested that the rider from Argentina had entered the sprinters lane whilst he was still in it. Not so said the video evidence and the result stood. In the second heat, there was no time for any mucking around with Giovanni taking a flyer and going on to win the match by a large margin and go through to the Gold medal ride off.

Finals
The Bronze medal ride off featured controversy as Javier Ardana (Arg) found himself pinned against the fence by Aderito Dacruz. Ardana attacked off the banking, finding the power to jump ahead of Aderito Dacruz (Fra) and cross the line first only to be relegated. More confusion in the next heat when Dacruz crossed the line first on what appeared to be the final lap only for Ardana to jump past and carry on and thinking he had won. He hadn’t and Dacruz had won the bronze medal two rides to nil.

In the final set of races for the Gold, Gavin White led Edgardo Giovanni (Arg) round the track and after a drag race to get the front, White was never challenged and won easily. It was the same in the second heat although Giovanni did try the desperate card by protesting that White had entered the sprinters lane but White was always going to win and the judges knew that too and the Gold went to white with silver for Giovanni.

Men's 45-49 Scratch Race
After German Gomez spent most of the race off the front, and even came close to gaining a lap at one point, his legs after 30 or more laps in the lead were never going to hold off the bunch and then when he got closed down, Britain’s Colin Parkinson took a flyer but he too was unable to outrun the peloton. In the sprint for the line, Thomas Kapuste was the winner from Paul Whatmough of Britain. Jaime Cardona of Columbia was third.

1. Thomas Kapuste (Ger)
2. Paul Whatmough (Gbr)
3. Jaime Cardona (Columbia)
4. Geoffrey Baxter, (Aus)
5. David Klipper (USA)
6. Eric Bonneau (Fra)
7. Vigen Sarkisian (Rus)
8. Andrew Jackson (Gbr)
9. Trevor Burke (Gbr)
10. David Gulick (USA)

Men's 50-54 Scratch
There are two ways these races can go; one is to end in a bunch kick after rolling around for 40 laps and the second is for the race to be very aggressive and so it was the latter with two of the favourites getting away very early on.

First defending champion Stephane Lebeau (Canada) went clear and after a chase, Claus Christiansen joined him and it took a while but working well together, the two of them took the lap and pretty much sealed the first two medals with 23 laps to go.

More riders try to get away to do the same, but the gate had been shut and it wasn’t until the closing laps that finally the peloton started to split in the run up to the bunch kick and a small group got away from which Vincente Zoric (Arg) won the Bronze medal while Lebeau managed to outsprint Christiansen for the Gold.

1. Stephane Lebeau (Canada)
2. Claus Christiansen (Denmark)
3. Vicento Zoric (Argentina)
4. Shaun Wallace (USA)
5. Francisco Lombardo (Arg)
6. Ivor Reid (Scotland)
7. Bernardo Figueroa (Col)
8. Ted Kicey (USA)
9. David Mills (Gbr)
10. Paul Caton (Gbr)

Women's 35-44 Scratch
Dana Walton won more Gold, outsprinting Cheryl Hulskamps (Aus) and Kimberly Edwards after a fairly uneventful 20 laps of the track where the only event of note was a crash to a lone rider in the final few laps.

1. Dana Walton (USA)
2. Cheryl Huskamps (Aus)
3. Kimberely Edwards (USA)
4. Sandra Bletchley (Aus)
5. Siobhan Mullen (Gbr)
6. Clara Lopez (Col)
7. Elisa Gianchino (RSA)
8. Mindy Simmons (USA)
9. Caroline Harding (Gbr)
10. Susie Mitchell (Ire)

Women's 45 + Scratch
Yet another Gold medal for Janet Birmyre (Gbr), her third of the championships, as her rivals played right into her hands. Birkmyre is too fast to take a finish on the track or the road but nobody seemed able to distance her and every time someone tried, Birkmyre was straight on it.

The only way she was ever going to be beaten was for multiple attacks to be launched one after the other to test her powers of recovery but that never happened and in the sprint finish, Birkmyre did what she does best and burst away from her rivals to win the Gold.

1. Janet Birkmyre (Gbr)
2. Lise Benjamin (Aus)
3. Orla Hendron (Ire)
4. Petra Klurender (Ger)
5. Elizabeth Claytton (Gbr)
6. Chrissy Higgs (Gbr)
7. Jayne Payne (Gbr)
8. Makiko Hamada (Japan)
9. Isabel Leon (Mexico)

Men's 70-74 Time Trial
Off in the last heat, Trinidad’s Henry Early was visibly quicker than his rivals as he set a new world best for the category in the two lap sprint round the track, over two seconds quicker than the next rider, Guido Lupo of Italy who won the Silver. Bronze was won by Britain’s Roland Crayford.

1. Henry Earl (Tri) 38.991 (new world best)
2. Guido Lupo (Ita) 41.291
3. Roland Crayford (Gbr) 41.466
4. Michael McDonald (USA) 42.136
5. John Mason (Gbr) 43.026
6. Peter Robertson (Gbr) 43.166
7. Ron Grant (Aus) 43.701
8. Alan Whitworth (Gbr) 43.922
9. Victor Posse (Gbr) 44.514
10. Brian Newton (Gbr) 44.520
11. Gordon Johnston (Gbr) 45.255
12. Denis Robinson (Aus) 45.667
13. David Sankey (Gbr) 46.793
14. Neil Orrell (Gbr) 48.964

Men's 75+ Time Trial
There was another new World best set in the 75+ category by Thomas O'Rouke of the USA. He was already the holder of the world best time for the category but off last, he took almost a second off the old time to win Gold. Silver went to Britain’s Derek Thurrell and Bronze to France’s Raymond Pelle.

1. Thomas O'Rouke (USA) best time holder 41.854
2. Derek Thurrell (Gbr) 43.705
3. Raymond Pelle (Fra) 44.237
4. Roy Savery (gbr) 45.357
5. Gunter Badstubner (Ger) 46.756
6. Owen Duffy (NZL) 46.717
7. Andre Beaufils (Fra) 53.457

Men's 60-64 Points
A winner already in the Championships, Steve Davies started well, finishing second in the first sprint after being pipped to the line by Patrick Gellineau of the USA who promptly attacked and a group of four riders Patrick Gellineau, Graham Truelove (Gbr), Patrick Samson (Fra) and David Mulica (USA) proceeded to take a lap.

The race quickly became a battle between these four with Truelove and Gellineau the strongest and fastest in the sprints; Truelove almost stealing the race from Gellineau in the closing stages. But Gellineau held on to win from Truelove with Samson‘s lone point plus the lap enough to get him the Bronze.

1. Patrick Gellineau (USA) Gold
2. Graham Truelove (Gbr)
3. Patrick Samson (Fra)
4. David Mulica, (USA)
5. Carlos Reybaud,(Arg)
6. Edurado Gualtieri (Arg)
7. Eduardo Gualtieri (Arg)
8. Thomas Demery (Gbr)
9. Steve Davies (Gbr)
10. Alistair Cameron (Gbr)

Men's 50-59 Points
Yet another attacking and very quick race as the riders didn’t hang about getting up to speed in this 60 lap race. Jimmy Rutherford was hungry for Gold and he proceeded to take a lap with Maas Van Beek (Ned), only for another of the favourites James Host to do the same.

The race proceeded to then become a battle royal between the two with Host scoring in every sprint after the lap gain and Rutherford likewise. Van Beek was also in the hunt for Gold, only a few points adrift of the other two and coming into the final sprint, Rutherford lead by a point.

Host proceeded to win the final sprint with Rutherford just behind in second and the five points for Host saw him take the title by a virtue of being the higher placed of the two in that final sprint.

What then followed was a lengthy inquest into whether Host had broken any rules during the race and also had help from others when they should have been put back into the race in a different group. The end result however was that Host was declared the winner from Rutherford.

1. James Host (USA)
2. Jimmy Rutherford (Gbr)
3. Maas van Beek (Ned)
4. Dider Ramet (Fra)
5. Bernhard Kluender (Ger)
6. Mark Zaschke (Gbr)
7. Russell Scott (Nzl)
8. Ian Humphrys (Gbr)
9. Tom Daly (Ire)
10. Martin Bush (Gbr)

Men's 65-69 Scratch
It’s not often a lone rider can escape a long way from home and hold off the peloton but that’s just what David Rutherford (Gbr) did and with no-one wanting to be the one to chase, the British rider held on to win Gold. In the bunch sprint for Silver, Graziano Pantosti (Ita) was second and Michael Williams (USA) third.

1. David Rutherford (gbr)
2. Graziano Pantosti (Ita)
3. Michael Williams (USA)
4. Heinz Bandener (Ger)
5. Michael Brat (Fra)
6. Geoff Cooke (Gbr)
7. Enrique Moyano (Arg)
8. Kevin McCombe (Nzl)
9. Lance Ravenhill (Gbr)
10. Steffan Hansen (Denmark)