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North American Omnium Championships - IM
Pennsylvania, USA, July 13, 2007
Liz reaps the rewards
By Nathan Carrick
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Liz Reap (T-Town Express) spent most of Friday night's North American Omnium Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome looking over her shoulder, sometimes with better results than others. All night it was a tough, back and forth battle between a sprinter, Reap, and an endurance rider, Ashley Kimmet (Miya Shoji). Even though she crashed by clipping the wall while looking over her shoulder in the first race, Reap managed to do well enough in all the other races to make up the difference.
The idea of an omnium is to determine the best all-around rider. You've got to be strong in the sprints and finish well in the distance events, too, scoring points consistently throughout the night. In amateur racing events on Tuesdays at the track, omniums are common. But they're rare on the professional schedule. Unfortunately, this meant some riders had trouble keeping track of the points. Before the official results were announced, neither Reap nor Kimmet knew if they had won.
"It is kind of confusing," Kimmet said. "Every once and a while they'll have points sprints and sometimes it's hard to hear, so you're not sure what they said."
But Reap liked the omnium format nonetheless. "It's hard for me, as a sprinter, but it's fun," she said. "It's kind of like a throwback for me to racing on Tuesdays and Saturdays [as an amateur]."
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So who's idea was it to have an omnium championship, anyway? "It was my idea," velodrome director Erin Hartwell said. "The objective was to model it off the NASCAR Nextel Cup." But he admitted there were some hiccups that need to be worked out before they try this again. "We need to be able to compile the results faster. I think without electronic scoring, in hindsight, we'd try and run it a little more simply."
Although Reap crashed out and scored no points in the five mile final, she was able to grab a win in the three mile final and a second in the elimination race. Kimmet won the five mile final and the elimination, but the prime points Reap secured in mid-race sprints were enough to put her ahead in the overall standings.
On the men's side, the points only mattered to qualify for the final race of the evening, a five kilometre shootout among the top 15 spots in the omnium. The evening started off with four one-mile heats, won from both breakaways and sprints. Points were awarded for the top three finishers and taken away from the last three. The top five qualified to the one mile final, which was won by Kiwi fastman Nathan Seldon (New Zealand).
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The elimination race included every rider and was fast and aggressive from the start. The PA Lightning team set a stiff pace at the front, and it paid off with Ryan Oelkers (PA Lightning) taking second. Taylor Brown (PA Lightning) may have made it to the final three, but on the second to last elimination some dicey riding by Alejandro Acton (Colavita Sutter Home) resulted in both Brown and Acton getting knocked out prematurely.
The men's consolation race gave a final chance to riders without enough points to qualify to make it to the five kilometre shootout. Only the winner would advance, however, and seeing as the consolation and shootout were staged back to back, it was going to be tough.
Mario Mazza (AF Pro) was the luck rider who won, and rolled right from the finishing line to the starting line, without even getting a chance to unclip his pedals.
The shootout awarded $25 to the winner of every lap. Needless to say, it started fast and stayed that way for the duration. Many riders took the opportunity to sprint for a quick payday, and then abandoned the race early. Others, like eventual winner Acton, stuck it out to the end to make for one of the most exciting races of the night.
Speaking through teammate Gustavo Artacho, Acton said: "15 laps is too short for us. We're road riders. We do this just for fun."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Todd Leister/www.leisterimages.com
- Simon VanVelthooven (New Zealand) winds it up along the boards.
- Local riders, like Nic Reinert (Salamander Racing), add to the all-around flavour of the Lehigh Valley Velodrome.
- One of several Kiwis who descended on the concrete crater Friday night.
- The 2006 Rider of the Year Sebastian Alexander (Rite-Aid), leads the men down the home straight.
- Focus is important when you have no brakes.
- Ryan Nelman (T-Town Express) wins heat 2 of the one-mile qualifying heats.
- Taylor Brown (PA Lightning) rode well all night.
- Juliet Earl (New Zealand) leads her teammate Jocelyn Rastrick through a turn.
- Mindi Martin (Plane Team Revolution) grits her teeth.
- Pete Fitzpatrick (SouthAustralia.com-AIS) leads the men's field.
- Nathan Sheldton traveled halfway around the world to take T-Town by storm.
- A crowd favourite after a single night?
- Ashley Kimmet (Miya Shoji) leads Liz Reap (T-Town Express) and Veronica Martinez (JVR Sports), her closest competitors all night.
- Settle in, ladies and gentlemen, this could take a while. A massive men’s field lines up for the elimination race.
- The giant men's field swarms the turn.
- Michael Miller (Team Alliance Environmental) puts on the face.
- Jared Bunde (GS Mingoni) crossed the line for a convincing win.
- Whoosh!
- Sebastian Alexander (Rite-Aid) is too fast for conventional photography.
- Nic Reinert (Salamander Racing) looking a little out of breath.
- Taylor Brown (PA Lightning) shadows his teammate, Jackie Simes.
- Former T-Town racer and current T-Town announcer Art 'The Dart' McHugh kept the commentary colourful.
- Liz Reap (T-Town Express) seems happy with her win.
- Thomas Mains (Van Dessel Factory), possibly the tallest rider on course tonight.
- In such a large men’s field, anyone has a chance at taking out the win.
- The crouched position of Jared Bunde (GS Mingoni) turned out to be quite efficient.
- Randy Smargiassi (Gotham Cyclists) had a pretty good night.
- Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter Home) feels the burn.
- Alejandro Acton (Colavita Sutter Home) celebrates his win in the five kilometre shootout.
Results
Men One Mile Heats Heat 1 1 Mario Mazza (USA) AF Pro 3 pts 2 Pete Fitzpatrick (Aus) Australia 2 3 Sebastian Alexandre (Arg) Rite-Aid 1 4 Matt Dieffenbach (USA) Tri State Velo 5 Keith Thorarinson (Can) Independent 6 Ray Ignosh (USA) Gotham Cyclists 7 Tom Dolan (USA) Velocity 8 Lanell Rockmore (USA) Young Medalists 9 Randy Smargiassi (USA) Gotham Cyclists -1 10 Jonathan Chambers (USA) Gotham Cyclists -2 11 Chris Stem (USA) Liberty Cycle -3 Heat 2 1 Alejandro Acton (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 3 pts 2 Ryan Nelman (USA) T-Town Express 2 3 Shane Kline (USA) Salamander Racing 1 4 Simon VanVelthooven (NZl) New Zealand 5 Marc Prutton (NZl) Pegasus 6 Mike Beers (USA) Rite-Aid 7 Rodney Santiago (PRc) CCG 8 David Scheetz (USA) Lehigh Wheelman 9 Richard Miller (USA) Breakaway Racing -1 10 Philip Cable (USA) Upstate Velo -2 11 Bruce Donaghy (USA) Morgan Stanley -3 Heat 3 1 Nathan Seldon (NZl) New Zealand 3 pts 2 Jonathan Lewis (NZl) New Zealand 2 3 Gustavo Artacho (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 1 4 Jared Bunde (USA) GS Mingoni 5 Adam Stewart (NZl) New Zealand 6 Taylor Brown (USA) PA Lightning 7 Thomas Mains (USA) Van Dessel Factory 8 Barry Miller (USA) Mike Frayssesport.com -1 9 Nic Reinert (USA) Salamander Racing -2 10 Michael Miller (USA) Team Alliance Environmental -3 Heat 4 1 Ray Ignosh (USA) Gotham Cyclists 3 pts 2 Gary Ryan (Aus) Verducci 2 3 Jackie Simes (USA) PA Lightning 1 4 Ryan Oelkers (USA) PA Lightning 5 Jason Snow (USA) Cycle Science 6 Haseem Maclean (Tri) Trinidad 7 Jonathan Rawlins (Tri) Trinidad 8 Andy Kulkis (USA) Gotham/Hensley -1 9 Tynan Farley (USA) Young Medalists -2 10 Paul Pearson (USA) Bucks County Racing -3 5 Mile Final 1 Ashley Kimmet (USA) Miya Shoji 10 pts 2 Mary Costelloe (USA) ECV 8 3 Veronica Martinez (Arg) JVR Sports 6 4 Mindi Martin (USA) Plane Team Revolution 5 5 Cindy Lakatosh (USA) Tri State Velo 4 6 Jocelyn Rastrick (NZl) Papanui Cycling 3 7 Juliet Earle (NZl) Papanui Cycling 2 8 Morgan Farnsworth (USA) Young Medalists 1 9 Abby Breaton (USA) Marian College 10 Shelbe Eck (USA) Tri State Velo Women's Elimination 1 Ashley Kimmet (USA) Miya Shoji 10 pts 2 Liz Reap (USA) T-Town Express 8 3 Mary Costelloe (USA) ECV 6 4 Veronica Martinez (Arg) JVR Sports 5 5 Mindi Martin (USA) Plane Team Revolution 4 6 Cindy Lakatosh (USA) Tri State Velo 3 7 Shelbe Eck (USA) Tri State Velo 2 8 Jocelyn Rastrick (NZl) Papanui Cycling 1 9 Abby Breaton (USA) Marian College 10 Morgan Farnsworth (USA) Young Medalists Men's 5 Mile Final 1 Jared Bundle (USA) GS Mingoni 10 pts 2 Ryan Oelkers (USA) PA Lightning 8 3 Gustavo Artacho (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 6 4 Mike Beers (USA) Rite-Aid 5 5 Alejandro Acton (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 4 6 Jackie Simes (USA) PA Lightning 3 7 Jason Snow (USA) Cycle Science 2 8 Shane Kline (USA) Salamander Racing 1 9 Marc Prutton (NZl) Pegasus 10 Chris Stern (USA) Liberty Cycle 11 Simon VanVelthooven (NZl) New Zealand 12 Barry Miller (USA) Mike Frayssesport.com 13 Ray Ignosh (USA) Gotham Cycling 14 Keith Thorarinson (Can) Independent Women's 3 Mile Final 1 Liz Reap (USA) T-Town Express 10 pts 2 Cindy Lakatosh (USA) Tri State Velo 8 3 Ashley Kimmet (USA) Miya Shoji 6 4 Veronica Martinez (Arg) JVR Sports 5 5 Mindy Martin (USA) Plane Team Revolution 4 6 Mary Costelloe (USA) ECV 3 7 Abby Breaton (USA) Marian College 2 8 Jacelyn Rastrick (NZl) Papanui Cycling 1 9 Juliet Earle (NZl) Papanui Cycling 10 Shelbe Eck (USA) Tri State Velo 11 Morgan Farnsworth (USA) Young Medalists Men's Elimination 1 Jason Snow (USA) Cycle Science 10 pts 2 Ryan Oelkers (USA) PA Lightning 8 3 Shane Kline (USA) Salamander Racing 6 4 Taylor Brown (USA) PA Lightning 5 5 Alejandro Acton (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 4 6 Gustavo Actacho (Arg) Colavita Sutter Home 3 7 Jackie Simes (USA) PA Lightning 2 8 Lanell Rockmore (USA) Young Medalists 1 9 Barry Miller (USA) Mike Frayssesport.com 10 Matt Dieffenbach (USA) Tri State Velo 11 Chris Ruhl (USA) Team Alliance 12 Nic Reinert (USA) Salamander Racing 13 Thomas Dolan (USA) Velocity 14 Keith Thorarinson (Can) Independent 15 Randy Smargiassi (USA) Gotham Cycling Women's Omnium 1 Liz Reap (USA) T-Town Express 10 pts 2 Ashley Kimmet (USA) Miya Shoji 8 3 Mindy Martin (USA) Plane Team Revolution 6 4 Cindy Lakatosh (USA) Tri State Velo 5 5 Mary Costelloe (USA) ECV 4 6 Veronica Martinez (Arg) JVR Sports 3 7 Jocelyn Rastrick (NZl) Papanui Cycling 2 8 Juliet Earle (NZl) Papanui Cycling 1 9 Shelbe Eck (USA) Tri State Velo 10 Abby Breaton (USA) Marian College 11 Morgan Farnsworth (USA) Young Medalists Men's Consolation Final 1 Mario Mazza (USA) AF Pro 2 Michael Miller (USA) Team Alliance Environmental 3 Nic Reinert (USA) Salamander Racing 4 Philip Cable (USA) Upstate Velo 5 Richard Miller (USA) Breakaway Racing Men's Omnium 5km Shootout 1 Alejandro Acton (Arg) Columbia 2 Jackie Simes (USA) PA Lightning 3 Jared Bunde (USA) GS Mingoni 4 Peter Fitzpatrick (Aus) SouthAustralia.com-AIS 5 Sebastian Alexandre (Arg) Rite-Aid 6 Simon VanVelthooven (NZl) New Zealand 7 Ryan Oelkers (USA) PA Lightning 8 Gustavo Artacho (Arg) Columbia 9 Jason Snow (USA) Cycle Science 10 Mark Prutton (NZl) Pegasus
