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2010 National Track Championships - Day 3
23rd September 2010 - Manchester Velodrome | Reports Homepage
Video: The closest Points Race in years! Video: Sprint Semi-final, Varnish v James heat 1 Video: Sprint Semi-final, Varnish v James heat 1 Video: New World record for Jody Cundy Video: And another for Jon-Allen Butterworth Video: Bruce Croall's Kilo winning ride
WOMEN'S SPRINT
Semi Finals: In the semi-final match up everyone was looking forward to seeing, Rebecca James took the first heat against Jess Varnish with a last-gasp move round the outside, after Varnish led the race out. James just sneaked a wheel in front on the line to go one up. James then wrapped it up and booked a place in the gold medal final with a very clean win, going to front a lap and a half out and simply out-dragging Varnish to the line. In the other Semi, Victoria Pendleton wasn't really troubled by Victoria Williamson, winning both heats comfortably, as expected.
Finals: Victoria Pendleton took the final against Rebecca James in two straight rides. She waited until the back straight on the last lap in the first heat, before blasting round her rival, doing just enough to claim the win by half a bike length. In the second James left the door open and Pendleton went for home with a lap to go. Her young opponent held on creditably and even threatened to draw alongside in the final banking, before the world champion applied a bit more gas and moved clear to retain her national title.
Jess Varnish was too powerful for Victoria Williamson and took the bronze medal final in two heats. A well timed run from the front by Williamson made Varnish chase hard in the second heat, but the result was never in doubt once the older rider had put her head down and she came round the outside in fine style in the last corner.
Rider Reactions
Victoria Pendleton (Gold Medal, Women’s Sprint): Winning the national title wearing the rainbow jersey of World Champion, the Olympic Sprint champion explained “I chose to race down a gear during the competition for a bit of training because I’m not really good on the smaller gears at the moment and I really enjoyed it. Becky did a great job and she deserved her second place today. It’s probably the closest final I have ever had in a national championship which is a great thing. It goes to show that the women’s side of the sprint is really progressing which is good news.”
“I was really surprised at my qualifying time. I really thought an 11.2 would be the best I could do today. If I’d done an 11.20, I’d have been happy so to go 11.0 was a real surprise and totally unexpected, not just by me but also by Jan (van Eijden) and Iain (Dyer). It is really reassuring that even when you haven’t got all your form, you can produce the goods using the techniques I have learnt over the years. I was really pleased by that.”
“It was nice to win wearing the rainbow jersey especially since I haven’t had the jersey out since the World Cup last year. I am very proud to wear it and have been lucky enough to wear it for the last few years in more than one event and that has been a really good feeling.”
“It is also good for the younger riders to be here with the riders who represent Britain at the highest level and that’s quite aspirational for them. If I’d been at the national champs and come up against a world champion, I’d have been like ‘wow, I can do that’, and I think that is really important.”
With the Women’s Keirin not until Saturday, Friday is a day that Victoria may be able to spend relaxing and enjoying her birthday with fiancé. “I’m planning on going out with my fiancé for a meal but no big party plans unfortunately. They’ll have to wait until I retire!” Happy birthday to Victoria and we all hope she has a great day!
Becky James (Silver medal, Women’s Sprint): “It was so good out there tonight. I got through the semi finals against Jess and was really happy with that because it’s always a tough competition between the two of us. In the final, it was great to be up against the Queen of sprinting because not many people get to ride against her. I gave it my best shot but enjoyed it more than anything.”
“I went up onto the line feeling good and tactically, it went well. I make mistakes but after each race we’d get shown a video of the race on an iPad and told what we could have done better to get closer to winning. I have been over that final race and there were a few little errors but then Victoria is quite a bit quicker than me.”
“I really wanted to get my nose out in that race and not just sit there and let her make all the moves. I was really tight on her wheel on the last bend and came though a bit and was really chuffed.”
Jess Varnish (3rd Women’s Sprint): “I was happy with my finals. I really wanted to get some practice ready for the Europeans because I haven’t sprinted for a while. So I am happy with how it is going. I got rid of the rust today and know what I have got to do. It’s all good. I made a few little mistakes in my rides against Becky but I am happy with it as my form isn’t there yet”.
Semi-finals
PENDLETON Victoria Sky Track Cycling beat WILLIAMSON Victoria Welwyn Wheelers 2 - 0
JAMES Rebecca Motor Point Marshalls beat VARNISH Jess Halesowen A & CC 2 - 0
Gold Medal Final
PENDLETON Victoria Sky Track Cycling beat JAMES Rebecca Motor Point Marshalls 2 - 0
Bronze Medal Final
VARNISH Jess Halesowen A & CC beat WILLIAMSON Victoria Welwyn Wheelers 2 - 0
Minor Final
5 JOINER Charline City of Edinburgh RC
6 GLEDHILL Cassie Team Orbea
7 BAIRD Emma City of Edinburgh RC
DAVIS Jenny City of Edinburgh RC DNS
MEN'S KILO
Last man to go, Bruce Croall of City of Edinburgh was the runaway winner of the Kilo Time Trial, slipping under 65 seconds in the process and putting himself over two seconds clear of Andrew Kelly. Ieuan Williams took third, just over a second further back.
1. CROALL Bruce City of Edinburgh RC 1.04.909
2. KELLY Andrew Science In Sport.com 1.07.047
3. WILLIAMS Ieuan CC Cardiff 1.08.257
4. REID Ivor Clachnacuddin CC 1.08.605
5. LAWSON Tim Science In Sport.com 1.08.709
6. AYRE Kenneth City of Edinburgh RC 1.09.141
7. WISE Alex Agiskoviner 1.09.274
8. BYRNE Terry Unattached 1.09.616
9. ELLIOT Rowan VC St Raphael 1.09.639
10. GITTINGS Matt AW Cycles.Co.uk 1.10.207
11. DYER Bryce Votwo.co.uk 1.10.338
12. COOLAHAN John Kingston Wheelers 1.10.469
13. LAMBERT Richard Cottingham Coureurs RT 1.10.361
14. DISLEY Xavier University of Birmingham 1.10.932
15. STUART Andy VC St Raphael 1.12.442
16. GREEN Jack VC St Raphael 1.12.474
17. PILBOROUGH Nick Halesowen A & CC 1.12.747
18. WOOD Joseph VC Londres 1.13.451
19. VINER James Twickenham CC 1.13.914
20. BROWN Mark University of Birmingham 1.15.009
21. LANG Gary Scunthorpe Poly 1.16.883
PARACYCLING FLYING 200M TT
A small but high quality field turned the Paracycling 200m Time Trial into something really special. There were World Records for newcomer Jon Butterworth and the experienced Jody Cundy, whilst tandem duos Helen Scott and Sophie Thornhill and Craig MacLean and Anthony Kappes would also have set new world bests if their respective pilots had not competed internationally within the last 2 years, which disqualifies them from official record setting. All-in-all it represented a remarkable competition with four out of five rides being world bests - how often can that have happened before?
1. BUTTERWORTH Jon-Allen VC St Raphael 11.105s
2. CUNDY Jody Science In Sport.com 10.970
3. BYRNE Terry Unattached 11.931
Ineligible guests
SCOTT Helen & THORNHILL Sophie Sport City Velo 11.608
MACLEAN Craig & KAPPES Anthony 10.290 - would be world record
WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL PURSUIT
The final of the women's Individual Pursuit saw Wendy Houvenaghel go into a 1.4 second lead after the first 1000 metres as Sarah Storey struggled to match her pace. Houvenaghel was into the same straight within 2 kilometers and went on to pass her rival with two laps to go and she then went on to finish with a rapid time of 3m 30.612s. In the bronze medal ride-off, Laura Trott had too much for Anna Blyth, the Welwyn Wheelers rider beating the former sprinter by almost seven seconds and recording 3.44.769 on the way to claiming bronze.
Wendy Houvenaghel (Gold, Women’s Pursuit): “I was pleased with the times today. I went out this morning and wanted to be a little bit conservative and was quite surprised that I had done a 3.31. I was pretty confident that this evening, I could do a ride that was a little bit faster and so in the final I used everything I have to go faster”.
“I haven’t really done a lot of preparation for this and am aiming to peak for the Commonwealth Games and slowly working my way towards that. I feel I’m pretty much where I need to be this far out from that competition as I haven’t really rested up yet. So I’m pleased with how tonight has gone.”
Gold Medal Final
HOUVENAGHEL Wendy Bikechain - Ricci 3.30.612
Beat
STOREY Sarah Horizon Fitness
Bronze Medal Final
TROTT Laura Welwyn Wheelers 3.44.769
beat
BLYTH Anna 100% ME 3.51.452
5th to 8th place finals
5. KING Dani Horizon Fitness 3.50.236
6. HALL Corrine Team Corridori 3.57.080
7. TODD Mari Sandy Wallace Cycles 3.57.997
8. GRANT Emma AW Cycles.Co.uk 3.58.467
MEN'S POINTS RACE
George Atkins won a spectacular and increasingly brutal Points Race in the most exciting manner, pipping precocious junior Simon Yates on the line to claim the last sprint and with it the title.
Atkins' 100% ME team-mate Chris Whorrall had set the early pace, winning three of the first five sprints and gradually working himself into a decent lead. However, as Danni King found out in the previous night's women's race, a steadily accrued total of points is always vulnerable when there are big points available to riders who can lap the field.
With half the race run, the 100% ME duo of Atkins and Mark Christian were joined by Simon Yates in a dogged and determined effort to gain a lap. Ignoring the intermediate sprints, which they shared out, they went on a 30 lap campaign which changed the course of the race. The eventually lapped a disintegrating field which shed such class riders as Evan Oliphant and Ian Stannard during this attritional stage.
Once they had made contact with the main field, the situation changed and the three allies became rivals, with Yates drawing first blood, winning the second from last sprint and going into a five point lead. Atkins responded by picking up second in the penultimate sprint to close the gap to two points.
Graham Briggs looked set to spoil the party by going away in the closing stages, but Atkins and Yates were not to be denied their final confrontation, going to the line neck-and-neck with Atkins just getting the nod by a wheel length. That gave him five points to Yates' three and with it the title as, although they were now tied on 44 points each, the better performer in the final sprint takes precedence.
It had been a superb race to watch and tribute to the largely young inexperienced field, with Atkins a worthy winner and Yates backing up his Scratch Race silver with another silver and confirming his exceptional potential.
Video: The closest Points Race in years!
George Atkins (Gold, Men’s Points): “That was bloody hard out there. It was one of those races where I’d made the plan to leave it late like maybe 60 to go, and I was looking to take laps and not sprints. I didn’t get any points until around halfway in the race and put in an effort to take a lap with around 90 to go and I got a bit of gap and a guy bridged to me. So I swung up, still had a bit of a gap and went from there.”
“It was one of those races that seemed to suit me where you just have to keep digging in and digging in. Mark (Christian) has a good pair of legs on him at the moment after Avenier and hats off to him because he was putting in some good turns and Simon (Yates) as well. Second in the Scratch and the Points, for a junior World Champion, it shows the standard they are at.”
“For me to pull out a result like that after the season I have had, I’m over the moon really.”
“Adam Yates going off the front at the end was all part of the mix of a good Points race. I don’t think I have sprinted that hard at the end of a race. That sprint was the race and I knew there was some one on my hip and had a good guess it was Simon!”
Simon Yates: (equal on points but second on countback) : “I felt good and can’t complain about two Silver medals at the national champs. It’s all good really. I was going pretty hard in the break and saving a bit in case the other two tied up. It was hard because we were out there for a long time and didn’t really get on with it and get it over with quicker.”
“I am hoping I can carry this good form over to the Games and get a good result. I’m not expecting anything of myself and not putting any pressure on myself to get a podium or anything but I will be giving it a good shot and if that gets me a podium, great but if I have to pull out, then I do that too.”
“I was hoping for a top five in these bunch races and well exceeded that so it’s all good.”
1. ATKINS George 100% ME 44 points
2. YATES Simon Maxgear RT 44
3. CHRISTIAN Mark 100% ME 39
4. WHORRALL Chris 100% ME 17
5. HARRISON Sam Planet X 14
6. MCLAY Daniel Hargroves Cycles 10
