British Cycling Derny Championships

British Cycling Derny Championships

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British Cycling Derny Championships

August 22, 2009; by Larry Hickmott -- Results strictly provisional.

Men's Podium with the riders being Jamie Rogers, Jon Mould and Tony Gibb.

High Speed Day of Racing in Newport

It is a crying shame that in track opens, especially the indoor ones,  that we don’t see Derny racing like the action  seen at Newport on Saturday, August 22. I can only imagine what a fantastic spectacle it would be to see such racing with an international field because the race served up at Newport on Saturday was certainly an awesome spectacle.

First there is the noise of eight derny’s racing at speed around the small 250 metre track with riders pulling all sorts of faces trying to hold the wheel and both races appeared to be far more brutal than other endurance races like a Scratch, Devil or even a Points race. There is nothing like seeing quality riders suffer to breaking point as their rivals pile on the pressure!

Then there was the smell and fumes of the dernys giving it a six day feel without the big crowd and flashing lights. And finally, the pace of the top riders increasing their speed bit-by-bit until they broke their opponents making it a nightmare trying to follow who was where in the race as the leaders lapped the rest of the riders again and again.

The Derny Championships at Newport showed that racing like this can be a great spectacle and credit must go to everyone involved for the quality of the racing during what was a very long day of racing at the Welsh National Cycling Centre.

Women’s Derny Championship

Start of the women's race as dernys come round to pick up their riders. (click here for a high-res slideshow)

The action on the track started with the warm-ups for the Women and Men at 1pm before the Women’s championship began at 1.30pm. After a restart, Birkmyre lead the field away while eventual winner King had to make up a lot of ground after drawing the last position in the field.

As King drew alongside Birkmyre, the two of them took turns to up the pace and lead the race. The battle between the two raged on until King finally broke the elastic to Birkmyre and the former Vision 1 rider started to draw away. As she did, both the early pace setters, Birkmyre and  Estelle Rogers who had fallen at one stage before rejoining the race, start to lose ground to those chasing behind as Emma Patterson and Melanie Sneddon made a charge in the closing laps.

The final rush around the track saw King consolidating her lead but behind the race for the other medals was on for young and old and at the finish of the 15 kilometres of high speed racing, King had won but in the battle for the other podium places, Emma Patterson  (paced by George Gilbert) raced to the Silver whilst a delighted Melanie Sneddon paced by Doug Pinkerton took the bronze.

L-R,  Emma Patterson/ George Gilbert (silver), Dani King/Courtney Rowe (1st) and Melanie Sneddon / Doug Pinkerton (bronze)

Afterwards, I spoke to Dani who was all smiles after a dominant victory. Dani explained that she had done a British championship a few years ago when she was a sprinter but at that time, she was dropped very early on. “This is the first time I have ridden this race capable of contesting the rest for first place” Dani told us.  “I drew position six at the start which was not what I wanted so we had to have a change of plan. I knew I had to make it a hard race because otherwise I knew Janet would have a go to beat me at the end.”

“We (Dani and her pacer Courtney) stayed at the back for the first 10 laps and then when the opportunity came, we went for it and I managed to lap everyone so it worked out really well.” Asked what she was up to after her team, Vision 1, stopped racing, Dani replied “I’m back in Britain now and focusing on the track nationals and doing local races down here to keep fit.”

Dani is expecting to race the Pursuit, Scratch  and Points at the Senior British Track Nationals and says right now, she is feeling good. “My long term aim is still to be a World Champion and Olympic Gold medallist so I am looking to give myself the opportunities to make that happen. I’d like to get on a pro team but I love the track too so I’ll just keep going and see what happens.”

Provision Result
1. Dani King (Courtney Rowe)
2. Emma Patterson (George Gilbert)
3. Melanie Sneddon (Doug Pinkerton)
4. Janet Birkmyre (Graham Bristow)
5. Estelle Rogers (Derek Marloe)
6. Christine Higgs (David Urquhart)

High speed women's action in the Derny Championship for Women.

Men’s Derny Championship
Early in the day, this competition kicked off with the first of two heats and the early leader was Andrew Magnier while Tony Gibb had to stop for a front wheel puncture before resuming and making a charge back to the front to ensure he was one of the first four to go through to the final.

Of the eight starters, going through were winner Andrew Magnier , Tony Gibb, James Holland-Leader and John McClelland. Other placings were Johannes Roux (5th), Karl Freeman (6th), Tony Nash (7th) and Alastair Taylor (8th).

In the second heat, Jamie Rogers, a junior, was looking very fast and he led the race away from Simon Lewis as the race settled into a fast rhythm. Simon Gaywood soon started his run to get to the front and with 20 laps to go there were still seven riders in contention. Chris Bush made a move on Rogers to take the lead and Mould raised the pace even more and with 10 to go Jon Mould from Cardiff hit the front with another Junior Matt Gittings giving chase.

In what was a fantastic finish to the heat with the riders and their dernys across the track at full speed, Gaywood came over the top the long way round to make the first four along with Mould (1st), Gittings (2nd) and Rogers (3rd). Other placings were Simon Lewis  (5th), Chris Bush (6th) and Sam Sturgeon (7th).

Jon Mould and Tony Gibb lock horns in a close and sometimes phyiscal battle

Final
After the gripping finish of the second heat, I could only imagine just how close and exciting the final was going to be. In the end however, it was almost no contest as Jon Mould was by far the strongest rider, winning by over a lap from Jamie Rogers and Tony Gibb. The start by contrast saw John McClelland  paced by Sean Bannister take the early lead before a surge by Matt Gittings upped the pace as the field started to string out with the favourites such as Simon Gaywood and Tony Gibb curiously still at the rear of the group 50 or so metres behind the leaders.

Then, there was a stunning move by Mould as he came from two or three back to take the lead at speed and after only a few laps was in the same straight as the leaders. Andrew Magnier was chasing alone while there was a group of chasers including Rogers, Gibb and Gaywood. As Mould started to get on the back of the main group, the pace at front was increased and Mould was distanced for a few laps before making the junction and taking the lap.

Magnier was still chasing as Gibb attacked and Mould reacted well to join him. The two teams then went on to catch Magnier who had failed to make the lap gain and just behind them were the chasers including Gaywood. With 70 laps to go, Rogers and Holland-Leader broke clear of Gaywood and soon Mould was doing his best to go clear of Gibb again.
 
Rogers  then started his run for a medal and joined Gibb and Mould and went past them to unlap himself. Mould was having none of that though and he went off in pursuit of Rogers dropping Gibb in the process and catching Rogers.

Andrew Magnier attacked early on to chase Mould but unlike the eventual winner, Magnier was unable to take the lap and dropped back and finished out of the medals.

It was all rather manic but the faces told the story of how much suffering there was out  there on the boards and despite Roger’s brave bid to unlap himself, he was reaching beyond what his legs were capable of after a brutal race and whilst he remained clear of Gibb, Mould opened up the gap again to win the race well clear of everyone and he clinched a deserved victory.

After his victory, I spoke to Jon who had just spent the week in Newport at the British Junior Track Championships. It was Jon’s first senior title as an individual following on from his Team Pursuit title with AgiskoViner the year before and his first time in the Derny Championships.

 “I changed my gear for the final because in qualifying I chose a 106 and so went down to 104 for the final. I was pretty pleased with how it all went at the end. At the start, we saw there was a gap to three riders behind us, so we went straight over the top and committed to taking the lap and with 100 laps to go I was a lap up and I dug in and started to follow everyone.”

“The legs felt good and the training I have done has paid off. I had only done one session with Courtney (Rowe) but I am so used to riding behind a derny now so I was confident sitting behind it. Races like this are different to other races because it’s so on all the time. In other races you’re sprinting, you’re off and then sprinting again whereas with this it’s on and I enjoy it and because of that give that much extra.”

1. Jon Mould (Courtney Rowe)
2.  Jamie Rogers
3.  Tony Gibb

Men’s Sprint -- highres slideshow here

Steven Hill was on fire winning several sprint events.

One of the other competitions on the day was the National Sprinters League Series and this kicked off with a flying 200 metres where newcomer to sprinting on a bicycle, Chris Pritchard set the fastest 200 metres at just under 11 seconds with Jelger Biischop of Holland in second and Steven Hill third fastest. The top 12 went through to the Sprinters League while the other 12 continued with the B sprint competition.

In the first round of the sprint competition, winners were Christian Lyte, Steven Hill, Chris Pritchard and Jelger Bisschop. The second round winners were Lyte who beat Stewart and Pritchard whilst in the second semi final, Steven Hill was too fast for Dutchman Bisschops and Lewis Oliva.

In the final, Steven Hill was again too quick for his rivals when he beat his fellow Academy teammate Christian Lyte in a photo finish whilst in the other final, Kevin Stewart beat Chris Pritchard, Bisschops and Lewis Oliva to the finish line to end the sprint competition in third.

1. Steven Hill
2 Christian Lyte
3. Kevin Stewart
4. Jelger Bisschops
5. Lewis Oliva

Men’s Keirin
Following the end of the sprint competition came three Keirin heats with the winners being Kevin Stewart, Christian Lyte and Spannmaeer of Holland. With 10 riders on the start line, it was a tight squeeze lining them up but soon the long string was stretched out behind the derny for the final where in the rush for the line Steven Hill again took first place ahead of Christian Lyte with Kevin Stewart in third place.


B Sprint
In the first round of this competition there were wins for Jamie Bremner of Scotland, Lee Povey, Eddy Sobieralski and local Rhys Thomas. The second round winners were Bremner and Povey with the latter having his young protégé John Paul holding him up on the line. John Paul, who is the fastest under 16 in the world right now, was back with his coach Lee Povey for the B final where the Team Terminator rider beat Jamie Bremner for the top spot while in the second final, Thomas won through to finish third.


Women’s Sprint Omnium highres slideshow here

Fastest female sprinter on the day was Helen Scott (leading here) who won the Omnium

First event in this competition was the flying 200 metres and unsurprisingly, Olympic Academy rider from the West Midlands, Helen Scott was fastest with 12.498 to the 12.702 of Janet Birkmyre who was second and Dani King third (12.705). With the order decided on the flying 200 metre times, the first round proper of match sprinting saw Helen Scott, Janet Birkmyre, Dani King and Charline Joiner win their matches.

Into the second round and the finishes were getting closer as Helen Scott beat revelation Charline Joiner with a throw of the bike on the line while the experienced Janet Birkymer beat Dani King to gain revenge after being beaten by the same rider in the Derny championship.

Into the finals and Scott beat Birkmyre to take first place in the competition whilst Joiner was too fast for the winner of the Scratch race and Women’s Derny championship Dani King. The other final was the 5-10 minor final where Jennifer O’Reilley of Ireland won the race to the line ahead of Cassie Gledhill.

Sprint
1. Helen Scott
2. Janet Birkmyer
3. Charline Joiner
4. Dani King
5.. Jennifer O’Reilley
6. Cassie Gledhill.

The next round of the Omnium was the Keirin and in the first of the two heats, Joiner beat Scott to the line whilst in the next heat, King was the winner and the Derny Champs winner was in the final. In the final, King tried the classic move of coming from the back, which was a long way in this final, to hit the front for the final rush but Helen Scott was just far too quick again for the rest with Joiner taking second with a final throw of the bike in an effort to beat Scott. King was third.

1. Helen Scott
2. Charline Joiner
3. Dani King
4. Cassi Gledhill,
5. Janet Birkmyre
6. Louise Satherley
7. Cheryl Owens
8. Caroline Gammell

Women’s Omnium
1. Helen Scott
2. Janet Birkmyre
3. Dani King
4. Charline Joiner

Dani King in another battle, this time with the impressive looking Charline Joiner from the City of Edinburgh club.


Other Results
5k Scratch (Women)
1. Dani King, 2. Jennifer O’Reilly, 3. Helen Scott

10k Men’s Scratch Race
1. Miles Stovold, 2. Chris Bush

Note: Results are provisional and official results will be added when we get them.

MORE PHOTOS (click here for a high-res slideshow)

Through the blue haze from the dernys Dani King makes her move to pass long time leader of the Women's championship Janet Birkmyre

Dani King ups the pace and only Birkmyre can stay in touch as third placed Estelle Rogers starts to get gapped before crashing at speed in the home straight. Rogers did get up and hold third position for a while but looking under geared, she dropped back by the finish to end up in 5th place.

Dani King celebrates a victory in the British Women's Derny Championship

A strong run at the end of the race by Melanie Sneddon saw her take third place from early front runner Janet Birkmyre.

Christian Lyte winning in style during the National Sprinters League events.

Dani King battling to beat Janet Birkmyre in the Women's Sprint Omnium but unable to beat the Masters sprint champion.

Kevin Stewart (centre) in a Science in Sport sandwich as he battles to beat Christian Lyte and Chris Pritchard who had been the fastest qualifier.

The 10 up keirin races were spectacular with Christian Lyte leading this one from Dutchman Jelger Bisschop and Steven Hill.

Derny Championships: (click here for a high-res slideshow)

Sprint Racing: (click here for a high-res slideshow)