After nine titles on day 1, many more were being contested on day 2 of the World Masters with the morning session packed with qualifying rounds of the Sprint and Pursuit.
Morning Session
Men’s 65-69 Sprint
The winner of the Gold medal in the 500 metre Time Trial on day 1, Britain’s Geoff Cooke (12.121), was fastest in the qualifying session for the Men’s 65-69 Sprint where twelve riders took to the track for the flying 200 metre session Second, two tenths slower than Cooke was Italy’s Graziano Pantosti with 12.381 while Britain’s David Rowe was third fastest in a time of 12.603
The first round saw each of the heats go to form with Geoff Cooke winning his with ease against Kiwi Kevin McCombe and Roger Langlois of France. Graziano Pantosti of Italy too had little trouble cruising through against France’s Michael Briat and Sandy Wallace of Great Britain while fellow Brit David Rowe kept himself in the hunt for a medal by beating Steffan Hansen of Denmark and Leo Menestrina of the USA The final round 1 heat went to fourth fastest qualifier Lance Ravenhill of Great Britain who saw off the challenge of Robert Wilson and Stan Gregg of the USA.
Repechages
The only way back for riders beaten in round 1 was in the repechages where in the two four up heats, Steffan Hansen of Denmark and Robert Wilson of South Africa were the winners and therefore progressed through to round 2.
Britain’s Geoff Cooke continued his good run in the competition by winning his round 2 heat against South African Robert Wilson Graziano Pantosti of Italy continued untroubled by his challengers beating Steffan Hansen while in the third and final heat of Round 2, Lance Ravenhill (the fourth fastest) saw off the challenge of fellow Briton David Rowe, the third fastest in qualifying.
After the second round heats had been decided, there was one more spot in the semi finals to be raced for in the Round 2 reps between Steffan Hansen, David Rowe and Robert Wilson and that was the order they finished in as Hansen proved too quick for his rivals in the three up drag race to the line.
Men’s 70 Plus Sprint
In the oldest of the World Championship categories, there were 14 starters for the Sprint competition with Italy’s Guido Lupo (12.779) winning the qualifying session from Henry Earl (13.083) of Trinidad, Thomas O’Rourke (13.398) of the USA and Britain’s Roland Crayford (13.883).
Having qualified fastest, Lupo backed that up by cruising through his first round heat against Neil Orrell as did Henry Earl of Trinidad who beat Denis Robinson of Australia and Derek Thurrell of Great Britain In heat three of the first round, Thomas O’Rouke of the USA had few problems against the challenge of Victor Posse and Andre Beaufils of France.
Heat four saw a win for Ron Grant of Australia who defeated Britain’s Roland Crayford and Kiwi Owen Duffy The final heat in round 1, the fifth, saw a victory for John Mason of Great Britain who relegated Michael McDonald to second and Gunter Badstubner third.
In the Round 1 reps, there were three heats of three riders or least there were supposed to be The first two heats certainly saw three riders in each coming to the line with Gunter Badstubner of Germany winning his rep while Michael McDonald of the USA saw off the challenge of Australian Denis Robinson and Andrew Beaufils in his The final rep though saw two riders DNS which meant all Victor Posse of Great Britain had to do was present himself on the line to go through to the next round which he duly did.
In round 2, there were four heats and yet again the Italian Lupo was looking the champion he may well become in the evening session as he won through against Michael MacDonald Henry Earl too made it look very easy against Victor Posse whilst not embarrassing the British rider Heat three and Thomas O’Rouke beat Badstubner of Germany whilst heat four was a win for Ron Grant of Australia against John Mason of Great Britain.
The final race of the morning session on Day 2 was the Minor Final (for places 5th to eight) for the 70 plus Sprint In it, the USA’s Michael MacDonald saw off the challenge of two Brits and a German to finish the competition in fifth place John Mason was second in the minor final (6th), Victor Posse third (7th) and Gunter Badstabner of Germany was fourth and 8th overall.
Men’s 55-59 Pursuit
There were eleven starters in the qualifying round of the Men’s 55-59 Pursuit with the USA’s James Host fastest in 2.24.879 ahead of two Brits, Chris Davis (2.25.214) who rides for Gold against Host while Ian Humphreys (2.28.010) will race for the bronze medal Fourth and the last rider to make the finals (bronze) was Holland’s Maas van Beek (2.29.494)
Men’s 60-64 Pursuit
There were eight riders in the qualifying round of the Men’s 60-64 Pursuit and a rider moving up a category, the North East’s Steve Davies  made an impact straight away by racing to the fastest time with a 2.28.743 for the 2000 metres Second fastest and in the Gold medal final with Steve was Australian Peter Gumbley (2.31.988).
Racing for the Bronze will be the third fastest Arne Simonsen (2.33.581) of Norway and Patrick Gellineau (2.33.625) of the USA. First British rider not in the finals was Graham Truelove in 5th
Women’s 50 Plus Pursuit
Eleven riders lined up for the Women’s 50 plus pursuit and it was Germany’s Petra Kluender who qualified fastest over the distance of 2,000 metres with a time of 2.43.853 Second fastest and riding against Kluender in the final for Gold will be Donna Meehan (2.46.518) of Australia
The bronze medal ride off meanwhile will be between Japan and Finland after Emi Wachi of Japan was third fastest with a time of 2.46.567, narrowly missing a ride in the Gold medal final. Fourth fastest was Finland’sArja Scarsbrook with 2.47.041 Fastest British rider was Chrissie Higgs with a time of 2.48.402.
Evening Session
Gone are the days when the medals at these championships are dominated by British riders with riders from as far away as Australia, the USA, Trinidad as well as other European nations, winning their share of the seven titles on offer on the second evening of the championships.
Women’s 50 Plus Pursuit – Gold for Germany
The Gold medal in this event went to Germany’s Petra Kluender who from the start of her ride off with Donna Meehan of Australia, was leading at all the time checks The Australian though never gave up for a moment and did reduce her deficit over the closing laps but Kluender’s lead was never threatened and the German ride completed the 2,000 metres distance in 2.43.988 with Meehan’s time 2.47.179.
In the ride off for the Bronze medal, Japanese rider Emi Wachi, who had been so close to qualifying for the Gold medal final in the morning session, dominated her Finnish opponent Arja Scarsbrook in the Bronze medal final by leading from the start and winning the heat by almost three seconds Wachi’s time was 2.47.345 while Arja Scarsbrook completed her 2,000 metres in 2.50.126.
Men’s 60-64 Pursuit – Gold for Britain
The North East’s Steve Davies showed yet again what a class act he is with yet another World Master’s title after he defeated Peter Gumbley of Australia in the final for the Gold and Silver medals Gumbley who had won a bronze in the Sprint the night before, started quickly and opened up a gap of almost a second on Davies before the Aussie started to tie up and Davies came back at him lap by lap
It was a thrilling a finish to the race with Davies not taking the lead until the bell sounded and holding on to win with a time of 2.31.052 for the 2,000 metres Gumbley finished his pursuit in a time of 2.32.087, losing over a second during that final lap.
In the Bronze medal ride off, the USA’s Patrick Gellineau managed to carve out a slender lead over his opponent Arne Simonsen
of Norway and the two were neck and neck for the bulk of the 2,000 metres
As much as Simonsen wanted that bronze medal, there came a time in the final few laps when he could challenge Gellineau no longer and the rider from the USA crossed the line in a time of 2.31.463 to win the Bronze medal, almost three seconds up on Simonsen.
Men’s 55-59 Pursuit – Gold for the USA
It was the turn of the USA to hear their national anthem after the Men’s 55-59 Pursuit as their rider James Host USA proved to be too quick for Britain’s Chris Davis Host came out of the starting gate slower than Davis her lead at the first time check by a hundredth of so but after that it was all Host’s race as he opened up the throttle and finished the 2,000 metres in a time of 2.23.879 to Davis’s 2.26.089.
Britain was denied the Bronze medal though by Maas van Beek from Holland who had a steady start and was marginally behind his rival Ian Humphreys (GBr) at the first time heck before the rider from Holland changed up a gear to record a time of 2.27.539 to Humphreys’ time of 2.30.015.
Men’s 65-69 Sprint – More Gold for Geoff Cooke
Britain’s second Gold of the night came in the Men’s Sprint for 65-69 year olds as Cooke first dispensed with Danish rider Steffan Hansen in the semi final two rides to nil before doing the same to an even faster opponent, Graziano Pantosti in the final.
Cooke simply never looked liked getting beaten at any point during the whole sprint competition and as ever, he was all smiles afterwards having added yet another Gold medal to his vast collection.
The Bronze medal was won by Lance Ravenhill who had been beaten by Pantosti in the semi finals two rides to nil In the final for the Bronze medal however, Ravenhill adopted the same tactics in both matches of the final, pinning his opponent up high against the fence and then making sure he was the first one to dive to the black line and kicking off the sprint to the line before his opponent had a chance to react The end result was the same too in both rides, wins for Ravenhill and the Bronze medal to take home.
Men’s 70plus Sprint – Gold for Trinidad!
Henry Earl of Trinidad proved to be far too good for his rivals throughout the day, going right through the competition unbeaten and coming away with a rainbow jersey and a Gold medal
Earl made his way to the final by beating Thomas O’Rourke of the USA in the semis and despite O’Rourke being tactically active against Earl, when the big man from Trinidad turned the gas on, there was nothing O’Rourke could do and he like so many before him was blown away in the rush to the line.
In the final for the Gold medal, Earl had to show respect to Guido Lupo, who like Earl, had dominated his rivals throughout the day as well Lupo of Italy had got to the final by beating Ron Grant of Australia quite easily and like Earl, was looking good for the title.
Earl though wasn’t having any of that and in the first match for the Gold, Earl caught Lupo napping and as much as the Italian tried to go the long way round, he was able to get near Earl’s front wheel The second match was even easier as Earl waited his moment, jumped around Lupo to take the lead and from there he was never challenged and he crossed the line delight at having won the Gold medal.
The Bronze medal final was won by Thomas O’Rourke of the USA who simply had too much zip for the Aussie Ron Grant who try as he may, could not beat the American tactically or for speed on the boards.
Men’s 45-49 Time Trial (750 metres) – Gold for the USA
There was more Gold for the USA when Todd Hayes made it a USA 1-2 when he recorded a time of 51.016 for the three laps of the track to his teammates (Wilhelmus Zegers) 51.063 The Bronze medal went to Britain’s John Saysell who recorded a time of 51.325
In all, there were eight riders recording a time of 51 seconds making it a real nail biting final with the final rider to get close to the victory, Zegers, off in the final heat and losing out to Hayes by a few hundredths of a second.
1 Todd HAYES USA 51.016
2 Wilhelmus ZEGERS USA 51.063
3 John SAYSELL GBR 51.325
4 Kenji YANO JPN 51.443
5 Matt DIEFENBACH USA 51.557
6 David KLIPPER USA 51.743
7 Philip HOULTON GBR 51.817
8 Bernhard FRANZPOTTER DEN 51.951
9 Fabio ALBERTI ITA 52.094
10 Trevor BURKE GBR 52.263
11 Mario VEGETTI ARG 52.325
12 Stephen McNALLY IRE 52.349
13 Douw GRUNDLING RSA 52.497
14 Didier LEINENWEBER AUS 53.135
15 Martin STEPHENS GBR 53.258
16 Daniel CASPER USA 53.276
17 Peter ETTLES GBR 53.502
18 Brian ABERS USA 53.517
19 Bruno MERY AUS 54.032
20 Steve CLAYTON GBR 54.287
21 Jacques SUIRE AUS 54.607
21 Geoffrey BAXTER AUS 54.607
23 Thomas KAPUSTE GER 54.857
24 Robert BODAMER USA 54.946
25 Patrick LARABEE USA 55.440
26 Andrew McKAY NZL 55.542
27 Luis D SOTO ZAYAS 55.813
28 John BURGER NED 55.916
29 Walter MIER GER 56.913
30 David GULICH USA 57.133
31 Eric BONNEAU AUS 57.230
32 Markus IMHOF GER 57.331
33 Dieter SCHUMACHER GER 58.140
34 Grant POWELL NZL 58.282
35 Jaime CARDONA COL 58.628
36 Andrea SAVINI ITA 1.06.062
Men’s 50-54 Time Trial (500m) – Gold to Australia
In the last throw of the dice, Australian Geoff Stoker won the Gold medal in the final event of the evening over a distance of 500 metres Stoker, off in the last heat, came within a few tenths of the World’s best of 37.45 held by Britain’s Dave Le Grys to beat Daniel Zicavo of Argentina (34.910) who in turn was only hundredths of a second clear of Britain’s Adrian Dent (34.995) The race was yet another example of just how close it is for the medals in many of the events and age categories with only hundredths or thousandths separating riders from all four corners of the globe.
1 Geoff STOKER AUS 34.717
2 Daniel ZICAVO ARG 34.910
3 Adrian DENT GBR 34.995
4 Michael POPPLEWELL AUS 35.584
5 Phillipe VERNET AUS 35.681
6 Tim ABBOTT RSA 35.896
7 Ivor REID GBR 36.127
8 Ferruccio VESCHETTI ITA 36.310
9 James THIELE USA 36.445
10 Steve PULFORD GBR 36.732
11 Stephane LEBEAU CAN 36.787
12 Simon SCHMIDT GBR 36.849
13 Ted KICEY USA 36.955
14 Dominque SIOUL AUS 37.043
15 Miguel ROSSIE ARG 37.074
16 Paul JEFFRIES GBR 37.430
17 Steve WILKINSON GBR 37.683
18 Michael EASTWOOD AUS 37.872
19 Steven LINDELL USA 38.077
20 Abel LUNA ARG 38.165
21 Sandor SZILAGYI HUN 38.195
22 Ray BOX AUS 38.261
23 David MILLS GBR 38.333
24 Rubiel CORTES COL 38.353
25 Franciso ALEMAN USA 38.500
26 Nick CHADDERTON AUS 38.564
27 Gary LAWRENCE USA 38.829
28 Daniel SCHUELLER USA 38.955
29 Andrew IMMELMAN RSA 39.031
30 Paul SWENARTON GBR 39.344
31 Mark STEWART USA 39.585
32 Denis CHAMPAGNE CAN 39.760
33 Yann Le CLECH AUS 39.9
34 Mark FLEMING GBR 40.358
35 Uwe RUBLING GER 40.704
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