Victoria, Canada World Track Cup, Round 2, May 29-31, 1998:
Robert Jones from Canadian Cyclist
is providing direct reports from Victoria of the second round in the World
Track Cup. Here is his second report from Day 1.
Sprinting Heats Up
The weather continues to be perfect as
we move into the evening of the first day here at the Victoria World Cup
track meet. The 12 men who survived from the morning rounds went two-up
in the 1/8 Finals to further narrow the field. The format was one race
only, with the loser getting a second chance in the repechage. As
expected, all the top seeded riders went through, with Marty Nothstein
of the USA getting a slight scare when he fell in in the third corner of
the second lap. The 3-time world champion (`94 Sprint, `94 and `96
Keirin) took no chances in his second attempt, joining favourites Jens
Fiedler (Germany) and Frederic Magne (France) in moving on to the next
round tomorrow. Also moving on were Grzegorz Krejner (Poland), Jan Van
Eijden (Germany), Jean Giletto (France), and the two winners of the
repechages - Valeri Potapov (Russia) and Craig MacLean (Great Britain).
The three-up repechages offered the most exciting racing of the day,
with each coming down to a photofinish. In the final repechage, MacLean
had to come from well back in third, after Jose Manuel Moreno of Spain
jumped early on him and Alexandre Kiritchenko of Russia. It looked like
Kiritchenko had managed to pull around the Spaniard to take the race,
but a tremendous surge in the last 10 metres saw the Brit edge the
Russian rider.
In the womens quarterfinals, it was 2 straight
wins for each of the favourites - Jennie Reed (USA) over Lori Ann
Muenzer of Canada; Australian Michelle Ferris against former Junior
World Champion Katrin Meinke (Germany); Canada’s Tanya Dubnicoff over
Susann Panzer (Germany) and Oksana Grichina beating her Russian teammate
Olga Slioussareva. One rider to watch for in the future will be the 18
year old German Meinke. She doesn’t have the strength yet, but
tactically she was a pleasure to watch, and an extremely smooth
rider.
The focus then shifted to the finals of the 4000 metre
mens individual pursuit. In the gold medal race, it was German Stefan
Steinweg over Michael Sandstod (Denmark), without too much trouble.
This was the same matchup as in the morning, and Steinweg steadily
pulled ahead and maintained a winning edge. Brett Lancaster of
Australia caught his American opponent Tommy Mulkey with 2 laps to go,
to take the bronze medal.
Currently, the Kilo is underway, so
stay tuned for results in about an hour.
Unofficial
Results
Mens 1/8 Match Sprint
Heat 1 - Marty Nothstein USA
vs Valeri Potapov RUS, Nothstein advances in 2 straight
Heat 2 -
Jens Fiedler GER vs Jose Manuel Moreno ESP, Fiedler advances in 2
straight
Heat 3 - Frederic Magne FRA vs Alexandre Kiritchenko
RUS, Magne advances in 2 straight
Heat 4 - Grzegorz Krejner POL
vs Jan Lepka SVK, Krejner advances in 2 straight
Heat 5 - Jan Van
Eijden GER vs Craig MacLean GBR, Van Eijden advances in 2
straight
Heat 6 - Jean Giletto FRA vs Hedeki Yamada JPN, Giletto
advances in 2 straight
Repechages
R1 - Potapov, Lepka,
Yamada - Potapov advances
R2 - Moreno, Kiritchenko, MacLean -
MacLean advances
Womens 1/4 Match Sprint
Heat 1 -
Jennie Reed USA vs Lori Ann Muenzer CAN, Reed advances to 2
straight
Heat 2 - Michelle Ferris AUS vs Katrin Meinke GER,
Ferris advances in 2 straight
Heat 3 - Tanya Dubnicoff CAN vs
Susann Panzer GER, Dubnicoff advances in 2 straight
Heat 4 -
Oksana Grichina RUS vs OlgaSlioussareva RUS, Grichina advances in 2
straight
Mens 4000M Individual Pursuit Final
1/2 ride
- Stefan Steinweg GER wins over Michael Sandstod DEN
3/4 ride -
Brett Lancaster AUS caught Tommy Mulkey USA with 2 laps left.
New Track Record for Hartwell
American Erin Hartwell may
have to change how he prepares for his races: not much training (new 6
week old baby), travel from Colombia for 20 straight hours, and don’t
get on the track until you do your Kilometre run. The result? A new
track record! Hartwell beat the old record of 1:05.386 set by Shane
Kelly (AUS) at the Commonwealth Games in 1994. His time was 1:04.772.
Second place Frederic Lancien of France also beat the record with a
1:04.885. In third was Stefan Mimke (GER) with 1:05.451. All were full
of praise for the quality of the track, saying it is the smoothest
concrete track that they have ever ridden on.
1000M Time
Trial
1. Erin Hartwell USA 1:04.772
2. Frederic Lancien FRA
1:04.885
3. Stefan Mimke GER 1:05.451
4. Grzegorz Trebski POL
1:06.113
5. Marcelo Amendolia ARG 1:06.653
10. Doug Baron
CAN 1:09.125
For full results of the morning session go to this
page - Morning - Day 1. For photos from the first day go to
the Photo page.
Australians Dominate
The second half of the Day 2 morning
session consisted of Individual Pursuit (Women) and Team Pursuit (Men)
Qualifying heats. In both cases, it was the Australians who set the
pace, with Lucy Tyler-Sharman shattering countrywoman Kathy Watt’s
Commonwealth Games track record in her qualifying run for the 3000M
Individual Pursuit. Watt’s record was 3:48.522, while Tyler-Sharman did
3:45.120, in a run she was disappointed with! "I really should have
gone faster, and I expect to later (in the Final this evening)."
Svetlana Samokhvalova RUS was second, in 3:48.574 - coming very close to
the old record as well. Erin Veenstra of the USA qualified third with
3:52.197. Canada’s entry, local Vancouver-based Andrea Hannos, finished
a respectable 8th (4:01.587).
In the Men’s 4000M Team Pursuit
(always a crowd favourite), the Danish team threw down the gauntlet
early, catching the Canadian team with just over half the race
completed, and going on to record a time of 4:22.902. This time did not
hold up long, as two heats later saw the Argentinian team drop the line
to 4:21.209. One round later, it was the most anticipated match up -
Australia (the track record holders) against the USA. The Australians
looked flawless, with crisp, quick changeovers and arrow straight
riding. The Americans rode well, but were no match, as the Aussies did
a 4:15.852. The Americans could manage no better than a 4:23.268,
putting them in 5th place, out of the finals. The final qualifying heat
saw the New Zealand team jump into second place (4:20.896), setting up a
gold medal ride against their rivals the Australians. The current Team
Pursuit record is 4:10.485, so there is a possibility of a new record
this evening.
Womens 3000M Individual Pursuit Qualifier
1.
Lucy Tyler-Sharman AUS 3:45.120
2. Svetlana Samokhvalova RUS
3:48.574
3. Erin Veenstra USA 3:52.197
4. Teodora Ruano ESP
3:57.296
5. Ina-Yoko Teutenberg GER 3:57.451
8. Andrea
Hannos, CAN 4:01.587
Mens 4000M Team Pursuit Qualifier
1.
Australia (Brett Lancaster, Tim Lyons, Luke Roberts, Michael Rogers)
4:15.852
2. New Zealand (Gary Anderson, Brendon Cameron, Tim
Carswell, Lee Verongen) 4:20.896
3. Argentina (Walter Perez, Simon
Edgards, Gustavo Artacho, Gonzalo Garcia) 4:21.209
4. Denmark (Tayeb
Braikia, Jimmi Madsen, Jakob Piil, Michael Sandstod) 4:22.902
11.
Canada (Mark Ernsting, Trevor Gunderson, Paul Henderson, Glen Rendall)
Lapped
We are getting ready for the evening session of today’s events at the
Victoria World Cup track meet. We now have complete official results up
for last night’s session and this morning’s session. Tonight we will have a long
session, including the men’s and women’s Match Sprint Finals and the
men’s Points race. Canada has Tanya Dubnicoff in the women’s Sprint,
and Brian Walton in the Points race.
100 Year Old Club
John Tomlinson writes that the various reports about Somerville reminded me
to tell you about my bike club -- the Century Road Club Association (CRCA).
The Breakway team that dominated Somerville this year is part of CRCA, as is the
Sony team of the 50+ winner Bob Clifford. Current Saturn team riders Elizabeth
Emery and Mike McCarthy started racing in the club and are still active in it.
Anyway, CRCA is 100 years old this year and we're having a party to
celebrate June 5th here in New York City. Phil Liggett will be the
keynote speaker. If you or anyone else is interested in the party,
please email me or call the CRCA hotline at (USA) (212) 222 8062.
Tour of Somerville - Again!
Adam Myerson writes:
Bill
Your "backroom" info on Tour of Somerville was close, but not quite right.
Since I ride for Breakaway, and was second in the race, I'm sure my story is
the straightest.
It's true that Shaklee hadn't registered J-me and Jonas in time. J-me got
into the race anyway, but Jonas was first on the waiting list. Second was our
rider (and former Shaklee member) Scott Mercer. In order to get Scott into the
race, we had to help get Jonas into the race first. So, Charlie Issendorf, our
rider/manager, offers his number to Jonas (this all happens five minutes
before the start). His concern is that only Jonas will get in though, so Jonas
agrees to ride in Breakaway clothes as "insurance." In the meantime, we're on
the start line, and Charlie is offering $200 to anyone willing to give up
their number to Scott. We find a willing party, Jonas' dad pays the $200 as a
thank you to the team, the numbers are switched, and the race starts.
Now the race strategy for both teams changes. One big combine to lead out
Jonas, with me as cleanup. And you know the rest of the story.
US Postal News from Tour of UK
The U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team's Viatcheslav Ekimov
delivered the team's first European win of the season today by taking the
sixth stage of the Tour of UK cycling event in Reading, Great Britain. Ekimov,
the current Russian National road race champion, bolted away from his 12
breakaway companions on a small hill with just over one mile left in the
91-mile stage from Bristol to Reading. Ekimov powered his way to the line
one-second clear of the 12 chasing riders in a time of 3 hours, 30 minutes
and 17 seconds. Race leader Stuart O'Grady of Gan took second in the stage,
with Festina's Andre Korff finishing third.
Ekimov is now 13th in general classification, 3:09 back of O'Grady.
Dariusz Baranowski leads the USPS team in GC, sitting in third place, 48
seconds back. Tyler Hamilton is in fifth place, at 1:17.
With five miles remaining in the stage, 13 riders, including Ekimov,
Baranowski, Hamilton and Jonathan Vaughters, who has led the mountains
competition since the second stage, broke away on Sulham Hill. With
superior numbers in the break - both Gan and Festina had three riders
present - Ekimov, a former World pursuit champion and Olympic Gold Medalist
on the track, relied on his favorite late-race tactic to win the stage.
Today's stage followed yesterday's tragic events at the PruTour,
when a police escort motorcyclist was killed in an accident while riding
ahead of the race. The accident occurred 35 miles into the 129-mile stage
and forced the cancellation of the stage.
Through the first four stages, the U.S. Postal Service team had five
top-five stage finishes, including George Hincapie and Baranowski's second
and third place efforts, respectively, in last Saturday's 2.61 mile
prologue. Hincapie also sprinted to fourth place finishes in stages one and
three before leaving the event due to illness before today's stage.
EDS Track Cup, Major Taylor Velodrome, Indianapolis
Chris Witty returned to cycling in fine style Friday,
winning the women’s 500 meters as the second round of the EDS Track Cup opened
at Major Taylor Velodrome. Witty (PowerBar), a double medalist in speed skating at
the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, was competing in her first cycling
event since the 1996 Olympic Trials. She won the women’s 500 meters in a
time of 37.109 seconds, topping Missy Thompson (Cox Atlanta Velo), who finished in
37.515 seconds.
"I wasn’t nervous," Witty said. "I was more curious -- how do I do this
again?"
Witty will also compete in the women’s match sprint events, which begin
Saturday morning with the 200-meter qualifying round.
The other star of the Friday morning session was Kent Bostick (Shaklee), who
qualified first in the men’s 4km individual pursuit in a time of four minutes,
39.714 seconds. Bostick, 44, missed the opening round of the EDS Track Cup
last month after a night-time training crash left facial wounds that required
50 stitches. He will face teammate Jame Carney in tonight’s final.
As this round of the Cup, some of the country’s top juniors are competing for
spots on the Junior Track Worlds Long Team. In the 500 meters, Michelle Woomer
(Kidspeed) finished as the top age 17-18 female and earned a berth. The junior
men’s match sprint competition will conclude tonight.
Women’s 500 Meters
1. Chris Whitty (Powerbar), West Allis, Wis., 37.109 secs; 2. Missy Thompson
(Cox Atlanta Velo), Colorado Springs, Colo., 37.515; 3. Jane Quigley
(PowerBar), Encinitas, Calif., 37.937; 4. Amber Holt (Ikon-Lexus), Torrance,
Calif., 38.430; 5. Tanya Lindenmuth (Tri State Velo), Trexlertown, Pa.,
38.514.
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