It was an exciting morning’s session at the Manchester velodrome with Women’s sprinting, Pursuit qualifiers and some thrilling Points race qualifiers where two of them had to be stopped after high speed crashes saw riders and bikes crashing to the boards in a heap.
Women’s 45+ Sprint
Already a winner in these championships in an endurance event, Britain’s Janet Birkmyre was the fastest qualifier in the Women’s Sprint, two tenths fastest than Aussie Lise Benjamin with the rest of the riders off the pace of these two. Round 1 was a formality for Birkmyre and Benjamin who went through with ease as did Deborah Capewell who was the final rider through to the second round.
The only way through to the second round for the rest was in the repechages where there were three heats. In these, Makiko Hamada beat Marita Box, Jane Chateaubriand beat Sue Taverner and in the final heat, Emi Wachi beat Bonnie Woodbury and Bernadette Leinenweber.
Qualifying
1 Janet BIRKMYRE GBR 12.229
2 Lise BENJAMIN AUS 12.443
3 Deborah CAPEWELL GBR 13.132
4 Emi WACHI JPN 13.530
5 Sue TAVERNER RSA 13.657
6 Makiko HAMADA JPN 13.659
7 Jane CHATEAUBRIAND USA 13.855
8 Marita BOX AUS 13.888
9 Bonnie WOODBURY USA 14.303
10 Bernadette LEINENWEBER FRA 16.528)
Round 1
Heat 1
Janet BIRKMYRE beat Emi WACHI
Heat 2
Lise BENJAMIN beat Jane CHATEAUBRIAND
Heat 3
Deborah CAPEWELL beat Makiko HAMADA
Repechages
Heat 1
Makiko HAMADAÂ beat Marita BOX
Heat 2
Jane CHATEAUBRIAND beat Sue TAVERNER
Heat 3
Emi WACHI beat Bonnie WOODBURY and Bernadette LEINENWEBER
Men’s 35-39 Individual Pursuit
Axel Boland from the Netherlands was the fastest qualifier in this 3,000 metre race against the clock. He will meet Britain’s Arthur Doyle in the final for Gold while the Bronze medal will see a scrap between Andrew Gerber of Australia and Boyd Roberts of Australia.
Qualifying
Axel BOLAND NED 3.31.185
Arthur DOYLE GBR 3.32.991
Andrew GERBER AUS 3.33.357
Boyd ROBERTS RSA 3.34.320
Ben ELLIOTT GBR 3.35.125
Michael DHINNIN FRA
Per BJESSE USA 3.37.399
Mario NELL RSA
Hugh MULHERNE IRE 3.40.865
Greame LACKFORD GBR 3.41.893
Andy STUART GBR 3.42.600
Callum FINLAYSON GBR 3.51.027
Jose SANTIAGO PUR 3.55.668
Dimitri BURDINSKI RUS 3.57.014
Howard HEIGHTON GBR 4.01.732
Cyrille SANTERRE FRA 4.05.098
Men’s 40-44 Individual Pursuit
Two riders from the Southern Hemisphere will contest the Gold and Silver medal ride off after David Stevens of Australia recorded the fastest time of 3.24.951, a clear three seconds clear of Argentinian rider Daniel Del Barco of Argentina 3.28.087.
The Bronze medal race off meanwhile will see two British riders go head to head, Elliott Davis (3.34.738) and Oliver Davies (3.35.194) and with so little between them, the race for the final medal will surely be an exciting one.
Qualifying
David STEVENS AUS 3.24.951
Daniel DEL BARCO ARG 3.28.087
Elliott DAVIS GBR 3.34.738
Oliver DAVIES GBR 3.35.194
Michael NASH CAN 3.35.871
James MILLAR GBR 3.36.228
Joseph WENTZELL USA 3.36.970
Frederick MARTIN FRA 3.38.058
Ian COOPER GBR 3.39.477
Greg SWINLAND IRE 3.40.440
Kurt BROADHAG USA 3.40.986
RICK MCARDLE AUS 3.41.237
Graziano GUERRA ITA 3.42.721
John McCLELLAND GBR 3.43.622
Guy TUCKER AUS 3.45.455
Phillipe RAYMOND CAN 3.45.509
Jean Paul BENVENUTO FRA 3.49.714
Jon LEWIS GBR 3.49.963
Tony LETELLIER FRA 3.54.651
Eddie LABRADOR PUR 3.57.963
Men’s 50-54 Points Race
Qualifying
In heat 1, there was a truly international feel to the result of this race with riders from all round the world among the 12 who qualified for the final headed up by Francisco Lombardo of Argentina. In all, 18 riders took to the start which meat six were going to miss the cut. The battle for points was so high that two of the riders had to retire with only 11 of the remaining riders were on the same lap.
In Heat 2, a crash early in the race involving four or five riders, saw the race stopped and the heat postponed until the evening session.
Heat 1
1 Francisco LOMBARDO ARG 7
2 Neville ACKERMAN RSA 6
3 Gordon AUBREY USA 5
4 Bernardo FIGUEROA COL 5
5 Sylvan ADAMS CAN 5
6 Claus CHRISTIANSEN DEN 5
7 Jorge ZORIC ARG 5
8 Sixten WACKSTROM FIN 2
9 David MILLS GBR 1
10 Keir APPERLEY GBR 1
11 Ralph CARTER GBR 0
12 Cecil BERNARD USA -7
Men’s 45-49 Points Race
Qualifying (12 riders in each heat)
With a large entry for this event and only 24 riders allowed for the final, two 10 kilometre heats, with sprints every 10 laps were held and from each heat, 12 riders would qualify. In heat 1, five riders, Anthony Nash and David Jack of Great Britain, Michael Blasczyk and Dieter Schumacher (Ger) and Jacques Suire of France took a lap and scored 10 points which sealed their qualification for the final.
The remaining riders had to scrap for points and with 14 riders in all scoring points, two of them missed out with the first 12 going through.
In heat 2, there were no breaks that were able to stick and so it became a battle in each sprint to be among the top four across the line and the rider with the most points was Peter Ettles of Britain. The finish of the race however came early after a crash saw four or five riders crash heavily just after the finish line prior to a mid-race sprint and with one needing a stretcher, the race was stopped.
One of those involved, Stephen McNally was stretchered off and is doubtful for the final despite scoring points that put him among the top 12 in the race up to the point of the crash.
Heat 1
1 Anthony NASH GBR 15
2 Michael BLASCZYK GER 15
3 Dieter SCHUMACHER GER 13
4 Jacques SUIRE FRA 13
5 David JACK GBR 12
@1 lap
6 Daniel CASPER USA 8
7 Andrew McKAY NZL 5
8 Trevor BURKE GBR 4
9 Patrick MARCUCCI AUS 2
10 Douw GRUNDLING RSA 2
11 Ian GREENSTREET GBR 2
12 David GULICK USA 1
Heat 2
1 Peter ETTLES GBR 8
2 Thomas KAPUSTE GER 7
3 John BURGER HOL 5
4 Geoffrey BAXTER AUS 5
5 Kerry HARFORD NZL 5
6 David KLIPPER USA 4
7 Colin PARKINSON GBR 2
8 Michael BEVAN RSA 2
9 Paul WHATMOUGH GBR 2
10 Stephen CLAYTON GBR 2
11 Stephen McNALLY IRE 1
12 German GOMEZ ARG 0
