The Individual Pursuit may now be the former Olympic blue riband event, but it can still provide an enthralling spectacle at any level. As well as the Final of the Men’s competition, this week’s meeting also saw the Ladies’ Final and the first running of the Junior Pursuit. With just four seconds separating the Men’s Finalists Bryan Taylor of VC Londres and Reading CC’s Nick English, the final looked like it would be close…
Full results and photo galleries. Youth results & report to follow.
Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles leads out the sprint in the Hare & Hounds
The evening kicked off with a very fast paced 10 lap Senior Hare & Hounds. It was youth that lead the charge from the Senior As with Dan Maslin (Hillingdon Slipstreamers), Stephen Bradbury (AW Cycles) and Gavin Mitchell (Twickenham CC) breaking away from the pack in an attempt to close down the gap to the Senior B riders – where a mix of youth and experience – George Withers and William Macke of Palmer Park Velo, Sam Grant of Beyond MBC and Trevor Bradbury of Reading CC – battled hard to stay away.
When the initial chase failed with 4 laps to go, Alex Patterson and Rob King of AW Cycles, Cam Swarbrick of Team Terminator and Nick Abrahams broke away and resumed the pursuit. Swarbrick and Abraham couldn’t quite bridge the gap, but Patterson and King joined the Bs with half a lap to go. They weren’t able to make their way through the pack, though, and it was Rikki Pankhurst of AW Cycles who took the win from Bradbury Senior and Macke in a Senior B 1-2-3.
Bryan Taylor powers to victory in the Individual Pursuit Final
Nick English gives his all in pursuit of Taylor
The Men’s Individual Pursuit Final looked close on paper – and fast, with last week’s cold, windy conditions replaces with a warm, still spring evening. In the end, it was a masterclass in pursuiting from Taylor. Starting in the home straight he took a couple of seconds out of English in the opening lap and steadily took a second a lap out of his opponent until 3 laps to go when the gap steadied at 7 seconds. By the end it had eased out a little further with English a tenth or so faster than his qualification ride last week and Taylor 5 seconds inside his with a phenomenal 5 minutes and 7 seconds – an average of over 48km/h (30mph) for the 4,131m event.
Emma Grant wins the Women’s Individual Pursuit
Jayne Paine takes second place in the Women’s Pursuit
The Ladies event finished with almost the same gap with Emma Grant of AW Cycles – who ended up riding an extra lap after a communication failure with her support team and the race officials (they told her she was finished – she didn’t hear them) – clocking a very creditable 3 minutes 47.33 (43.6km/h – 27.1mph). Jayne Paine (Willesden CC) was exactly 7 seconds back on 3:54.43, Nicci Meadows (AW Cycles) just over 3 seconds behind Paine in third with 3:57.8 and Sarra Boyd (Mildenhall CC) fourth in 4:06.18
Matt ‘Omelette’ Gittings dominates the Junior Individual Pursuit
Photo : Chris Macleod
Cam ‘Diesel’ Swarbrick sets the second fastest time in the Junior Pursuit
Photo : Chris Macleod
With only two eligible riders entered, two of the Under 16s who ride alongside them in the Senior competition ‘rode up’ in the Junior event – which was only fractionally slower than the Men’s final. Matt Gittings of AW Cycles set a storming pace to clock 3:30 – an average speed of 47.2km/h (29.3mph) for the 2,754m. Cam Swarbrick of Team Terminator was 7.5 seconds behind with 3:37.49 in 2nd place, with Frazier Carr (Palmer Park Velo) in third (3:51.9) and Steven Bradbury fourth (3:55.88).
John Paul returns to Reading Track League and dominates the Senior A Keirin Final
Richard Moss comes round Gawain Bailey to take the Senior B Keirin
The Senior A Keirin Final saw the welcome return of track league regular, Olympic Development Programme rider and Under 16 500m Time Trial World Record Holder John Paul, now riding for the famous City of Edinburgh Club. Paul controlled the race from the front with Sam Sturgeon of Team Terminator just losing out to Gittings on the line for third, with Swarbrick nicking fourth from King. The 8-up B final was also close with Gawain Bailey leading the charge before being
rolled in the home straight with Richard Moss of GS Henley leading home Macke and Pankhurst.
Moss leaves it late again, taking the Senior B win in the Unknown Distance race
Taylor adds to his Individual Pursuit win with victory in the AW Cycles 20k
It was Moss who had lead home the Senior Bs in the Unknown Distance, too, ahead of Macke with Peterson taking the Senior A win from Maslin and Steve Legg of Veloleggy 316. Moss wasn’t finished with two wins, consolidating his lead by taking the B honours in a fast paced AW Cycles 20k. The calm night and warm conditions conspired to keep the field together with no real breaks forming and the field finishing together on the final lap. Taylor took the overall win and the Senior A points, ahead of Sturgeon and Abraham with Pankhurst and Rob Maccullough of VC 10 taking 2nd and 3rd in the B championship and Jason Pitt and Daniel Lansley – both of Palmer Park Velo – taking the points in the Sonim Under 14 and Under 16 20k series.
Youth
Arriving at Palmer Park in beautiful sunshine a freshening breeze carried the voices of eager youngsters previously unseen at the Track League this season. Competition amongst the U12, U10 and U8 categories was set to be the hardest fought to date. We weren’t disappointed.
The 1 lap time-trial commenced promptly at 7pm. Starting proceedings was Under 8 Emily Conn who showed excellent leg speed and determination justifying her pre-race pleas to be allowed to compete in spite of the fact she’d only come down to watch. Thereafter each competitor put themselves on the limit in their quest to set a personal best on this fine evening.
Times in general were slightly quicker than the previous meeting’s 1 lap time-trial with Under 16 Jason Pitt just dipping under the 40 second mark to post the fastest time on the night. Under 14 Daniel Lansley once again proved fastest in his age category but was pushed extremely close by the ever improving Under 14 girl Abi Dentus, who at little over half a second down carried on her very impressive form from the previous weekend’s omnium at Welwyn. In the Under 12 and Under 10 categories the two fastest times were very nifty with these being set by Cameron Thompson and Callum Macleod respectively. Euan Macleod took the race of the Isla’s from Emily Conn in the Under 8s, but only just.
As Jason Pitt crossed the line at the end of his one lap effort the Under 8s and Under 10s were back on the fence for the first of two youth Devils. Honors again went to Callum Macleod who showed good sprint speed taking the line a bike length from Joe McGunniess with Max Reed in third.
With a larger field in the Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16s race tactics were much more clearly evident with the stronger riders Jason Pitt and Daniel Lansley keeping the speed honest. As the bell rang for the final lap Jason Pitt stretched his legs and rode away from the field while Daniel Lansley looked on confident of second place, but not without a very good fight from Reg Pay who was only just beaten into third. In future it would be excellent to see Daniel trust his ability and not settle so easily for second, he’s capable of pushing Jason all the way to the line.
Following a short break while the seniors raced a frantic 10 lap Hare & Hounds was the youth Keirin.
With Pacer Gisela Bradbury setting a very even tempo Euan Macleod, Kitty Pilgrim Morris and Emily Conn lined up behind the motor and sprinted to the line maintaining their positions. It’s a fantastic sight seeing children so small riding like their sprint heroes behind the rather primitive Derny.
Next up were Max Reed, Damon King, Joe McGunniess and Callum Macleod. This heat developed into a fierce battle with Callum Macleod notching up a third win on the evening but not before he’d been pushed all the way by both Joe McGunness in second and Damon King in third.
In the Under 12s Cameron Thompson attacked hard to take a convincing win with Danny Griffiths second in front of a battle royal between Emma Pitt, Max Rigby and Sam Oliver for third with Sam’s perseverance giving him a very well deserved placing.
The next heat paired two girls, Abi Dentus and Toni Griffiths, against the boys Reg Pay and the returning younger Lansley, Matthew. It was great to have Matthew back following an obviously horrible hamstring tear. Taking the Derny was Abi followed by Reg with Matthew and Toni completing the four. As the motor eased off the track, Abi kicked hard and gapped the field. But as we have seen in other Keirin heats this year, 300 meters is a long way to the line. Coming into the home straight the race was still on. Reg committed fully to the chase rounding Abi to take an extremely exciting victory by the narrowest of margins, not much more than a tyre with Toni taking third.
The Under 16s ran true to form with Jason Pitt taking the win from Jack Smith with John Ellis in third.
The final race of the evening’s youth program, a 10 lap scratch, followed the now familiar pattern of the Under 8s and Under 10s staying out front while the older riders chased them down. Big efforts came from Emma Pitt who powered round the track like a Derny Pacer followed by an audacious attack by Jason Brown who by this time was aboard a new bike, following a puncture, sporting a smaller Under 14 gear. What was noticeable was Jason’s leg speed and pace. It looked to me as though this was a more natural gear for Jason and something he may want to consider before returning to the larger geared Under 16 rig. The race reached a fine conclusion with a big group of Under 10s and 12s racing for places behind Jason Pitt in first, Daniel Lansley second and Abi Dentus in third.
A mention must be given to the younger group who worked extremely hard. Joe McGunniess and Damon King worked tirelessly to gain their just reward by stopping Callum Macleod from a clean sweep in the Under 10s by a narrow margin.
An enthralling conclusion to another entertaining night’s youth track racing at Palmer Park.
Youths
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Seniors
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