Published: 21 May 2006
News from John Dennis
Cycle sport?s biggest day of the year in Reading, Sunday June 4th, will see Vicki Pendleton racing at the Palmer Park Velodrome for the first time since winning her World Sprint Championship last year and her Commonwealth Games Sprint gold medal in Australia this year.
Vicki heads up the two National Championships for men and women when she contests the 25 kilometre Derny motor paced title race for women, and Bryan Taylor, no stranger to Reading Track, defends his title in the men?s 50 kilometre event.
This year the women?s race has attracted an entirely new set of competitors, apart from Jo Tindley (VC Londres) who finished the runner- up in 2005. It will be quite exciting I believe, to see Reading?s star Lara Wann challenging Vicki for Lara is still a junior, but regularly competing in Endurance races and Vicki, while she is a full time professional athlete, is nevertheless a sprinter.
Taylor?s closest challenger in last year?s Championship, James Holland-Leader could fulfil a similar role this year, but Luton CC?s Simon Gaywood who was runner- up to Taylor in last week?s pre-championship derny races at Herne Hill in London, could well take that place.
Speculation does not take account of the track racing strength that is bubbling away at the home Velodrome with local heroes AWCycles Joe Bayfield, and Tim Bedingfield and the man who burst into Championship form only last week, Martin McCrossan, trackcycling.co.uk. Any of these could put a spoke into Taylor?s spinning wheels.
From 50 kilometre racing to 500 metres sprinting the scene changes dramatically, for some of the best sprinters will line up for the first round of the year in the National Sprinter?s League. In a betting world much money would be laid on trackcycling.co.uk riders Lee Povey from Brighton and junior Peter Mitchell (trackcycling.co.uk), a dangerous outsider.
Two previous National Sprint Champions Dave Le Grys and Steve Cronshaw may lack youthful speed but their age has brought tactical skills which will be interesting to watch.
Final race of the day with £250 of the meeting?s total of £1,000 prize money at stake, the 20 kms Endurance, sponsored by AW Cycles, will see sprinters and derny paced stayers, men and women, all on the track together for the last 20 minutes racing which started with preliminary heats at 10.30 a.m., lunch break interval then finals which start at 2 p.m. with an estimated finish time of 4.30 p.m.