Australian Junior Track Championships - NE

Adelaide, 13-16 April 2003

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Day 3 - April 15: 200m Time Trial, 200m Sprint

Victorians sprint home

by Kathie Stove

Today the talented Victorian team again asserted their superiority, this time in the Sprint, and are in an unassailable position as team of the championships with only one event, the under 17 men's team pursuit, to come in the championships.

Victorian coach Ian Notting said that he couldn't be more pleased with the way the team has gone.

"We were very confident coming into the championships," he said. We've got a good bunch of kids and we've been working with them all this track season.

"And I believe we will crown it off with the teams pursuit tomorrow. They have been working all season together, they know each other's moves, they know exactly what they have to do and I think we've got the five riders to take it off."

Yet another entertaining night's racing was briefly marred by some team members who, as spectators for the evening, indulged in the not-so-great Australian past-time of sledging riders from other states. The commissaires called all team managers together before the end of the evening to ask them to cool their charges down.

The action began early in the flying 200m with under 15 men's record of 12.44 seconds - not to mention the indoor record of 12.98 seconds - being broken by four riders and finally residing with Victorian Leigh Howard at 12.292 seconds, that's an average speed of 58.57.

The tactics in sprinting at this level are pretty basic - keep pretty much together until the bell and then put your head down and go flat out. The faster rider wins.

The Sprint semi-finals were pretty clear cut with each being decided in only two races (it is a best of three competition). In the under 17 women's ride off Bianca Rogers of SA did cross the line first in the second ride after having lost the first but the result was reversed because she did not hold her line. The South Australian protest at the decision was not upheld by the race jury.

With the fastest riders through, the finals action was exciting and often close, with the gold/silver and bronze finals in the under 17 men's both going to a third race to decide the medals. ACT team manager Michael Hanslip said that the Adelaide track was a hard one to come around on and is was usually the case that the rider in front at the bell took out the race.

In the under 15 women's gold medal race Samantha Hellyer of Tasmania proved too fast for Lisa Friend and was twice a clear winner on the line. Samantha, who also won a bronze medal in the scratch race, prevented Lisa from taking a second gold medal but she nevertheless finished with 1 gold, 2 silver and one bronze - a medal in every event in which she competed.

Nicholas Spratt benefited from more thoughtful tactics in the under 15 men's sprint when he got a good jump on his opponent in the second race to gain 3 lengths and take the bronze medal. In the gold medal final races Victorian Leigh Howard established a gap on Jack Rhodes - younger brother of Women's Individual Pursuit Junior World Champion Alex Rhodes - at the bell in both races that Rhodes was not able to bridge in the surge for the line.

The final in the under 17 women's sprint was closer but in both races Queenslander Haley Wright had the advantage over her Victorian opponent, Sarah Humphries. Humphries appeared to have pulled her foot on the line in the first but the result was confirmed in the second race when she made up a lot of ground in the final metres but could not get past Wright in time. Jessica Tanner of Victoria took the bronze in two over local Bianca Rogers.

The closest contests of the night came in the under 17 men's sprint finals. In the first gold medal ride Western Australian Scott Sunderland led out and, as his opponent Shaun Morris of Victoria went to attack with about 275m to go, put the hammer down. It wasn't until the line that Morris hit the front but his timing was perfect.

In race two Sunderland took a trip up the banking and went under Morris with a lap and a half to go. This time he had given himself enough lead to hold Morris off until the line. In the third race Sunderland again led out but Morris made sure the gap was small enough for him to again take Sunderland on the line.

Morris and Sunderland finished the championships with individual gold and silver medals: in the 500m Time Trial Sunderland took the gold and Morris the silver. Sunderland also took the bronze in the Scratch Race, giving him a medal in every event he contested, and one of each colour.

Victorian Abe Hastwell took the first of the bronze medal races but Joel Davis came back to take the other two and seize the bronze. Davis had also taken bronze in the 500m time trial - not bad for a young man who had never ridden on a wooden indoor track before travelling to these championships.

Results

JW15 Sprint
 
1 Samantha Hellyer (Tas)
2 Lisa Friend (Vic)
3 Emily Wood (WA)
4 Georgina Freeland (Vic)
5 Rebecca MacPherson (WA)
6 Netasha Pearse (NSW)
7 Courtney Le Lay (Qld)
8 Deena-Maree Faulkner (NSW)
 
JM15 Sprint
 
1 Leigh Howard (Vic)
2 Jack Rhodes (SA)
3 Nicholas Spratt (NSW)
4 Byron Davis (Qld)
5 Joel Lewis (NT)
6 Matthew Wood (Vic)
7 Dale Scarfe (NSW)
8 Lachlan Plane (Qld)
 
JW17 Sprint
 
1 Haley Wright (Qld)
2 Sarah Humphries (Vic)
3 Jessica Tanner (Vic)
4 Bianca Rogers (SA)
5 Amanda Spratt (NSW)
6 Tess Downing (Vic)
7 Natasha Mapley (Tas)
8 Jenny Loutit (ACT)
 
JM17 Sprint
 
1 Shaun Morris (Vic)
2 Scott Sunderland (WA)
3 Joel Davis (Qld)
4 Abe Hastwell (Vic)
5 Anthony Bennett (NSW)
6 Tyler McLachlan (NSW)
7 Gregory Beer (NSW)
8 Benjamin Simonelli (Qld)
 
Medal Tally
 
               Gold  Silver  Bronze   Total
 
VIC               7       8       3      18
WA                3       3       3       9
TAS               2      -        2       4
QLD               2      -        2       4
NSW               1       1       3       5
SA                -       3       1       4
NT                -       -       -       -
NZ                -       -       -       -