Published: 17 July 2007
Tonight's racing at Palmer Park, AW Cycles track league was all hustle and bustle, with the sprinters coming out in force to do battle.
- A close finish to the Senior Hare and Hounds
- Photograph courtesy of DGS Cycling Photography
The track league's Sprint competitions have been well attended and closely fought but with the added excitement, this evening, of the Central Regions Olympic Sprint competition, it was all full on testosterone with bulging quads and biceps as the track was ripped apart by a hoard of manic high speed junkies.
First to do battle were the Women who, after 2 heats, brought together the fastest group of four riders and within this group it was always going to be an interesting competition between the countries best domestic sprinter, Janet Birkmyre, and up and coming youngster Harriet Owen. Birkmyre took the front position and keeping control of things, she chose to pile on the pressure with 300 metres to go, shelling out everyone but Owen. Owen, in an obviously small gear was able to handle the initial acceleration and with super high speed pedalling action, able to hang on round the last bend but Birkmyre, who saw she was being tailed, kept the power on and regardless of the huge cheers of encouragement from the crowd for the local youngster, held Owen all the way to the line with another pair of youngsters Emily Hogge and Emma Patterson taking third and fourth places.
The B category league has been dominated this year by Eddie Sobieralski and given his dominant display in the heats, where he rode his competitors off his wheel to win by 60 metres, it looked like he was going to continue his domination. But no! In the final he came up against Rob Drinkwater, who had looked comfortable winning his heat and it was Drinkwater, who took the inside line, hit the 200 metre mark at full pace, with Sobieralski on his shoulder. Drinkwater powered round the final bend and held the gap at half a bike length all the way to the line to win, Sobieralski taking the second place points to put him in an un-assailable lead in the B Sprint competition.
- David Jack leads out the A rider sprint
- Photograph courtesy of swarbrick.com
The A category league was a straight to final event as many of the regular sprinters were saving their legs for the Olympic Sprint so it was a five up sprint with league overall leader Ian Greenstreet and A Sprint league leader David Jack being the guys to watch.
Chris Bradbury kept a close eye on front and made the first move down the back straight which was immediately countered by Jack and Greenstreet. As they hit the 200 metre line it was Jack blasting away on the front with Greenstreet on his wheel. Bradbury was going backwards with the rest of the field blocked and unable to make a move. Jack kept the power on all the way to the line with Greenstreet holding onto second with Sam Sturgeon making a late run for third.
The Regional Olympic Sprint competition was a closely fought effort with 12 teams trying to qualify for the final.
- Twickenham CC heading for 2nd place in the Divisional Olympic Sprint
- Photograph courtesy of DGS Cycling Photography
Last years champions, Team AW Cycles set the fastest time of 48.67 seconds for the lap and a half, with 2 teams,Team Quest & Twickenham CC separated by 0.06 of a second for the final berth. There was a little consternation as a protest that Team Quest had been pushed off the line was discussed by officials, and although this was an error by an un-knowing innocent helper and not of Team Quests knowledge or volition, it was decided that the best solution was to have the top 3 teams ride off for the medals, instead of just the top 2, with the medals going based on their times. Team AW Cycles and Team Quest drew to ride off against each other with Twickenham CC riding alone. The AW Cycles squad hammered round to record a time slightly slower than their qualifying effort but still under 50 seconds, 49.23, with Team Quest riding a 50.67s effort. Both teams waited whilst Twickenham CC gave it their all in their ride and coming down the home straight and across the line it was looking very very close but with two watches timing each team it was a short wait whilst officials collated the times. Eventually it was Team AW Cycles who defended their title with Twickenham CC going faster in their final ride to take second and Team Quest third. Probably the best ride of the night though was the Palmer Park Velo A squad of Stephen Bradbury, Chris Legg and Matt Gittings, who were only a second shy of qualifying. These guys are all Under 16s or in the case of Bradbury, Under 14. Watch out next year. These guys will only get faster!!
We've just time and space for a brief round up of the 20 km AW Cycles Endurance race plus a mention of the youths nightly activities.
- Roger Woodford, AW Cycles, wins the 20K Endurance race
- Photograph courtesy of DGS Cycling Photography
The 20 km though was a closely packed and fought event with attacks going off the front regularly but being brought back and nothing sticking but the pace was high enough to shell out some of the determined youth riders who enjoy the challenge of riding with the seniors. In the final 8 laps an attack from Chris Legg looked like it was well timed and although he was joined by David Jack, the two of them just couldn't stay away either and with 3 laps to go, they were brought back. And as they rejoined, another final big effort from John Tuckett caused consternation in the pack as he opened up an 80 metre gap and held it until the last lap where the bunch accelerated, picked him up and shelled him out as they lined up for an almighty finish. It was a member of the winning Olympic sprint squad, Roger Woodford who powered home to win from Michael Wilmot with Ian Greenstreet finishing third to consolidate his lead in the overall league competition.
- A win in the a Youth Handicap race
- Photograph courtesy of DGS Cycling Photography
The Youths races had victories for James Hobbs (four on the night), Stephen Bradbury (3 wins), Daniel Maslin (3 wins), Harriett Owen (2 wins) with Georgie Hardy, Cameron Swarbrick and Jason Pitt all taking good wins in the highly competitive track league.
Remember - Bordeaux-Paris Derny race and Open track meet that was cancelled twice due to the bad weather, is booked for the 9th of September - 12 noon start. Entries on the line too!! See you there.