Wallace Wins Big Clash With Yates

 

UCI World Masters Track Championships:

Day 5 - Friday 15 September 2006

Friday 15th September saw the fifth and penultimate day of the 2006 UCI World Masters Track Championships at the Manchester Velodrome. Great Britain today won one of the six titles on offer with the winning performance from Shaun Wallace in the Men's 45-49 Pursuit.

At the end of the fifth day the top three Countries in the medal table are as follows:
- 1st: USA (13 Gold,12 Silver and 7 Bronze),
- 2nd: Great Britain (12 Gold, 9 Silver and 16 Bronze),
- 3rd: Australia (6 Gold, 8 Silver and 5 Bronze).

The remaining World Masters titles were collected by Alain Bornet, France (Men's 30-34 Points), Kenny Williams, USA (Men's 35-39 Points), Michael Adey, South Africa (Men's 40-44 Pursuit), Scott Butler, USA (Men's 50-54 Points), Juan Carlos Haedo, Argentina (Men's 55-59 Points).

Particular mention should go to Shaun Wallace of Great Britain, who has won both the Pursuit and Points titles in the Men's 45-49 age category. He successfully moved up an age category after winning these events in the 40-44 age category in 2005. Kenny Williams of the USA, who defended his title from 2005 in the Men's 35-39 Points race.

 

Day 5 Race reports

Men's 55-59 Points Race

Juan Carlos Haedo was the only rider to lap the field on his way to a Gold medal in this points race. Chip Berezny took maximum points in the final sprint to take the Silver medal ahead of Woody Cox, with both riders finishing on the same number of points.

1st: Juan Carlos Haedo, ARG 26 points
2nd: Chip Berezny, USA 11 points
3rd: Woody Cox, USA 11 points

Men's 45-49 Pursuit

Despite a fast effort from the start to try and overhaul the three second deficit from the qualifying round, David Mann from USA was unable to hold off the challenge from Michael Popplewell. Popplewell rode a steady race to gradually overhaul his opponent and take the Bronze medal.

In the clash of the titans between Shaun Wallace and Sean Yates for the Gold medal, Wallace had a much faster start to soon find Yates in his sights. As Wallace gradually reeled him in, Yates was 10m off being caught when Wallace crossed the line to take the title.

1st: Shaun Wallace, GBR 3.31.192
2nd: Sean Yates, GBR 3.39.645
3rd: Michael Popplewell, AUS 3.41.977

Men's 50-54 Points

In a thrilling end to this Points race, the four leading riders each had 10 points with only the final sprint to go. Six riders were then involved in a breakaway attempt to try and lap the field. The medals were awarded to the three riders that were successful in gaining the lap, with the Gold and Silver decided on the order they crossed the line.

1st: Scott Butler, USA 30 points
2nd: Christopher Hunt, AUS 30 points
3rd: Mark Zaschke, GBR 23 points

Men's 35-39 Points

This was another great Points race that again went down to the final sprint, with the top three riders clear on points from the rest of the field. No laps were gained on the field so all of the points came from the sprints. On the last lap, the order they crossed the line to take the points in the final sprint determined the order of the medals, with Kenny Williams crossing the line first to defend his title from 2005.

1st: Kenny Williams, USA 27 points
2nd: Wolfgang Kotzmann, AUT 24 points
3rd: Martin Van Wyk, RSA 19 points

Men's 40-44 Pursuit

In a race that saw the lead change several times, Curtis Tolson overhauled the half second deficit from the qualifying rounds to beat Adrian Timmis of GBR by just over a second and take the Bronze medal.

When it came to the ride-off for the Gold and Silver medals, Michael Adey had set a time of over 2 seconds faster than Tim Lawson in qualification. Lawson had the advantage by over a second after a fast opening kilometer, however Adey had just nudged ahead after 2km and continued to open the gap against his opponent to win the Gold medal.

1st: Michael Adey, RSA 3.36.556
2nd: Tim Lawson, GBR 3.41.169
3rd: Curtis Tolson, USA 3.38.712

Men's 30-34 Points

This race saw many attacks on the field and several riders gained a lap during the course of the 120 lap race. Only the medal winners gained two laps on the field, with Alain Bornet coming out on top in the sprint points.

1st: Alain Bornet, FRA 55 points
2nd: Ed Nicholson, GBR 49 points
3rd: Bruno LeGuirec, FRA 41 points

The championships continue until Saturday 16th September.