European Track Championships 2006
July 19-23; Athens Olympic Velodrome
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Junior Mens Points Race
Jonny Bellis from the Isle of Man was GB's leading rider in 5th place, a lap down on the eventual medallists.
The race started quickly and Adam Blythe didn't waste any time getting into the action and then for the first sprint, Jonny Bellis scored two points as the pace of the race was as frantic as ever. Then, a move went off the front which GB missed but Adam Blythe did get in a chase group which was just about to make the junction until he crashed. But not only did Adam get up quickly and into the lead group but Jonny Bellis also made up a lot of ground to get on terms with the leaders.
With 60 laps to go, the race for Jonny Bellis got going in earnest as he took five points and zoomed up the leader board. Then five riders got away and it wasn't until a chase group took up the challenge that Bellis joined the race to get back to the front of the event. It didn't work out though and whilst the small group of riders managed to take the lap, Jonny was still on the same lap as the rest of the bunch.
It was to be his undoing because for all his efforts, and he made a few, he wasn't able to get into a group to get the lap he needed to get back into the race and eventually finished out of the medals despite scoring more points in subsequent sprints and had he got the lap, he would have been a run away winner.
The French rider rises from the saddle to chase down a break.
A rider goes down in front of Adam Blythe early on in the final leaving him no where to go.
Adam no doubt doing some damage to a rider's disc wheel.
Adam jumped straight up from this crash at which point GB mechanic Ernie Feargreive checked his bike and then the GB rider got back into the race.
Adam steps on the gas with Jonny behind him as a sprint looms in a lap or two.
Jonny won two sprints but was unable to get the crucial lap gain he needed to win the bike race.
Heat 1
In this race, GB had long time track racer Adam Blythe, one who started his race by gathering a few points placing in one sprint, and winning at least one other but with quite a few riders starting to gain laps, Adam not only sealed his place in the final by taking a lap with 8 to go and riding a Dutchman off his wheel as he did so, he also finished on top of the leader board for the event and booked his ride in the evening's final.
1. Adam Blythe
2. Chorlampenkovas
3. T Guardiola
4. O Martynenko
5. B Faltin
Heat 2
Riding for GB in this race was Isle of Man rider Jonny Bellis who had already shown at the Commonwealth Games how well he could get around the track. Like the other heats, riders were choosing their moments to take laps and that included Jonny who took his first with 40 laps to go. An indication of his form came in the way he dropped his companions in the break to gain the lap on his own whilst the Dutch and French rider struggled to make contact.
Jonny knew that his 20 points for the lap may not be enough and he continued to contest sprints and add to his points tally as he sat in around 8th place. He sealed his place in the final with a second lap gain, in the company of a Dutch rider, putting him in 4th place for the race won by the Dutchman Kreder.
Heat 1
1. BLYTHE Adam GBR 32
2. CHORLAMPENKOVAS Povilas LTU 25
3. GUARDIOLA TORA Salvador ESP 23
4. MARTYNENKO Oleksandr UKR 22
5. FALTIN Bastian GER 21
6. MAXIMOV Roman RUS 21
7. MILANOVIC Nikola SCG 20
8. LIGHTART Dim NED 11
9. BENFATTO Marco ITA 10
10. NAULEAU Bryan FRA 7
11. STARK Dominique SUI 5
12. MARAVELAKIS Ioannis GRE 4
13. STACHOWIAK Adam POL 3
14. O?SULLIVAN Jeremiah IRL 2
Heat 2
1. KREDER Raymond NED 63
2. LAMOISSON Morgan FRA 47
3. SAKAVETS Sergey BLR 46
4. BRAGGION Fabrizio ITA 46
5. BELLIS Jonathan GBR 43
5. MATZKA Ralf GER 43
7. POKIDOV Maxim RUS 42
8. MYKCHAYLOV Rostislav UKR 42
9. MOCKUS Algirdas LTU 40
10. KRYSZTOFIK Tomasz POL 31
11. TRIKOILIS Nikolaos GRE 29
12. FERNANDEZ CASASOLA Airan ESP 26
13. PERIZZOLO Loic SUI 24
14. CRONIN Diarmuid IRL 23
15. VULIC Nemanja SCG 1
