The East Midlands eased in to the lead in the team competition after the first session of the British Cycling Inter Regional Track Championships at Newport. That lead’s unlikely to last long, though, with North West riders Matt Rotherham and Jessica Crampton qualifying fastest in both the Boys and Girls Sprint competitions – although East Midlands’ Ben Green will be trying to keep things on track.
Jessica Crempton of the North West region topped the times in the Girls Sprint qualifying, clocking 12.481 ahead of Sarah Crowley (Wales) on 12.897 and Imogen Farlie (South East) on 13.186.
All three progressed to the A-B Semi-Finals, along with Kate McCullough- Young of Scotland.
Crampton’s team mate Matt Rotherham kept up the North West region’s momentum with an 11.463 to top the Boy’s Sprint qualifying by three tenths of a second. Sassan Emadi of the West Midlands was second with 11.714 with Jake Womoersely of Yorkshire third on 11.939.
Rotherham and Emadi made it through to the A-B Semi-Finals along with 4th fastest qualifier Dan Maslin of Central, but Womersley couldn’t hold off a flying Ben Green (East Midlands) and had to make do with a place in the C-D Semis.
In a fragmented Girls Scratch Race it was Lucy Garner of East Midlands who ultimately came out on top – taking the final sprint from Amy Roberts of Wales and Melissa Bury of the North West.
The Boys Scratch, too, was a nervous affair with constant attacks which came to nothing. The penultimate attempt to get away was from Jacob Ragan of the North West, but as we was caught with four to go it was Kristian Woolf of Eastern Region who got the gap – and held it to the end. Pre-race favourites Sam Lowe of East Midlands and Jon Dibben from South led the bunch sprint for second and third.
Girls Scratch Race Award Ceremony
Boys Scratch Race Award Ceremony
Full Picture Gallery
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