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2010 National Track Championships - Day 2

22nd September 2010 - Manchester Velodrome | Reports Homepage

Above: Slideshow of all the racing on Day 2

Video: Men's Scratch Race final laps & Ben Swift's crash
Video: Varnish & James' winning Team Sprint Ride
Video: Barney Storey & Neil Fachie's Time Trial
Video: Corinne Hall wins Women's Points Race

WOMEN'S TEAM SPRINT

Jess Varnish leads Becky James on their way to a personal best for the Women's Team Sprint and a British title.

Jess Varnish and Rebecca James were the class acts in the Women's Team Sprint competition. They were a second faster than the best of the rest in the qualifying round and then went significantly quicker in the semi finals - indeed they were within 6 tenths of Victoria Pendleton and Shanze Reade's national record - before taking the gold medal final with almost two seconds to spare over the City of Edinburgh duo of Jenny Davis and Charline Joiner. Another City of Edinburgh duo, Emma Baird and Kayleigh Brogan took the bronze medal.

Qualifying

1. VARNISH Jess Halesowen & JAMES Rebecca NW Region 34.139
2. DAVIS Jenny & JOINER Charline City of Edinburgh RC "A" 35.164
3. WILLIAMSON Victoria & TROTT Laura Welwyn Wheelers 37.051
4. BAIRD Emma & BROGAN Kayleigh City of Edinburgh RC 37.509
5. GLEDHILL Cassie (Team Orbea) & HASTON Louise (City of Edinburgh RC) 38.527
6. SCOTT Helen & HOPKINS Ella Halesowen A & CC 38.935
7. SATHERLEY Louise & WILLIAMS Donna ( Team Terminator) 39.191
8. GARNER Jackie & BRITTEN Marianne Maxgear RT 39.731

Semi Finals

DAVIS Jenny & JOINER Charline City of Edinburgh RC "A" 36.034
beat
WILLIAMSON Victoria & TROTT Laura Welwyn Wheelers 36.650

VARNISH Jess Halesowen & JAMES Rebecca NW Region 33.739 (only 6/10 off national record)
beat
BAIRD Emma & BROGAN Kayleigh City of Edinburgh RC 37.036

Minor Placings
5 SCOTT Helen & HOPKINS Ella Halesowen A & CC 38.404
6 SATHERLEY Louise & WILLIAMS Donna ( Team Terminator) 39.150
7 GARNER Jackie & BRITTEN Marianne Maxgear RT 39.652

Bronze Medal Final
BAIRD Emma & BROGAN Kayleigh City of Edinburgh RC 36.997
beat
WILLIAMSON Victoria & TROTT Laura Welwyn Wheelers 37.229

Gold Medal Final
VARNISH Jess Halesowen & JAMES Rebecca NW Region 34.095
beat
DAVIS Jenny & JOINER Charline City of Edinburgh RC "A" 35.878

PARACYCLING TIME TRIAL

Podium for the Paracycling Time Trial Championship - L-R: Barney Storey, Neil Fachie (silver),  Jon-Allen Butterworth (Gold) and Jody Cundy (Bronze).

A mixture of new blood and some established stars produced a very high quality Paracycling Time Trial. The partnership of Barney Storey and Neil Fachie took the battle of the tandems with a fine 1000m time of 1m 03.538s, leaving the recently formed partnership of experienced riders Craig MacLean and Anthony Kappes only five hundredths slower.

But it was two new riders who made perhaps the biggest impact: Jon-Allen Butterworth and Terry Byrne, who were both injured in the Afghanistan conflict, look to have the potential to produce the sort of times which the great Jody Cundy is producing and their impressive rides underline the healthy competition for places with the London Paralympics just under two years away. In the end it was Butterworth, with a time of 1m 09.618s - just a second outside the world record in his category - who claimed the gold, with Storey and Kappes second and Jody Cundy third.

Results *1000m **500m
LANE Crystal Team Tor 2000 42.875**
TROW Stuart Mid Shropshire Wheelers 1.32.144*
CHRISTMAS Martin Chester RC 1.27.964*
STANIFORD Tom Rapha Condor CC 1.18.530*
BYRNE Terry Unattached 1.10.716*
BUTTERWORTH Jon-Allen VC St Raphael 1.09.618*
CUNDY Jody Science In Sport.com 1.07.241*
SCOTT Helen & THORNHILL Sophie (Sport City Velo) 37.280**
MACLEAN Craig & KAPPES Anthony 1.03.593
RIMMINGTON Rebecca & MCGYNN Aileen Johnstone Wheelers 1.11.066*
STOREY Barney & FACHIE Neil 1.03.538

WOMEN'S POINTS RACE

Corrine Hall leads a three up break before going solo and claiming a brilliant victory done very much the hard way showing true grit.

Corrine Hall won a great Women's Points Race with a brilliant late move which won her back-to-back sprints and also netted her 20 points for lapping the field. It was a race run off at high pace and which had everything, including a that spectacular late plot twist.

Before that, Danni King had dominated the race with a really strong display of riding mixed with the sort of tactical awareness which is essential for winning this style of racing. King quickly got herself on the scoreboard with a win in the second sprint and kept on scoring points regularly, with further maximums in the fourth, seventh and eighth sprints putting her well clear of her rivals. When she wasn't scoring points she was policing the breaks which looked dangerous.

But just as interest seemed to be moving towards who would win silver and bronze medals, Hall made a great bid to gain a lap, going away initially as one of a trio of riders and then going on alone. She got to within the length of a straight of lapping the bunch, but seemed doomed to not quite make contact. However, after taking the tenth sprint, she found the main bunch slowing just enough for her to make contact and she gleefully claimed the 20 points and went into the lead.

Suddenly King was playing catch-up. The penultimate sprint saw Anna Blythe take the win with Hannah Rich stealing past team-mate Danni King to take the second place. This left King, who was third, three points down on Hall with one sprint to go. Hall marked her in the final laps and with Anna Blythe coming through to take the final sprint, King's race was run as she could only claim third, with Hall fourth and the new national Points Race Champion. Blythe picked up the bronze.

1 HALL Corrine Team Corridori 38 points
2 KING Dani Horizon Fitness 36
3 BLYTH Anna 100% ME 22
4 MILLER Ruby Forza Cycles 17
5 RICH Hannah Horizon Fitness 13
6 TROTT Laura Welwyn Wheelers 12
7 OWENS Harriet Bicester Milenium 9
8 DALY Lisa Sport City Velo 5
9 ROE Eileen Limpet Technology 0
10 BRITTEN Marianne Maxgear RT -20

MEN'S SCRATCH RACE

Peter Kennaugh lights the burners and heads for home and a Gold medal after lapping the field. On the outside is Junior World Champion Simon Yates who surprised everyone by sprinting in first to claim the Silver medal ahead of Geraint Thomas.

Peter Kennaugh won a dramatic and high-paced Scratch Race with a great mid race move when he gained a lap, the only rider to do so. But a nasty crash for Ben Swift, right at the end, marred the race for the otherwise dominant Team Sky.

Tim Kennaugh and Owain Doull were the first riders to make a significant break and got half a length lead with 50 laps to go, but they stalled and were brought back with the Team Sky riders driving the chase. This move indirectly stretched the field and the first slew of retirements came soon afterwards.

Peter Kennaugh was the next to go off the front, with Evan Oliphant and Eric Rowsell in pursuit. The joined up and began to make real progress. Ben Swift then blasted across the gap and joined them, apparently effortlessly. Kennaugh then went alone off the front of this small group and gained the lap, whilst the rest of the break retreated into the main field. With some 27 laps to go at this point, suddenly Kennaugh had the race in the bag.

It quickly became apparent that the rest of the medal positions would be decided in the final sprint. However, with just over two laps to go, Swift fell when he strayed onto the infield as the riders bunched at the front. Luckily he didn't bring down anyone else, and he was able to walk away, holding his shoulder.

Back in the race, Simon Yates struck a great blow for the younger contingent surging clear in the last lap to claim silver with Geraint Thomas taking the bronze. After the race Ben Swift headed for hospital to have his shoulder checked out. (Update - Swift's shoulder injury is not a break so should have limited impact on his upcoming commitments).

Results

1. KENNAUGH Peter Team Sky Pro Cycling
2. YATES Simon Maxgear RT
3. THOMAS Geraint Team Sky Pro Cycling
4. WHORRALL Chris 100% ME
5. MOULD Jon 100% ME
6. CHRISTIAN Mark 100% ME

POST EVENT RIDER REACTION

Scratch Race

Peter Kennaugh (Team Sky, Winner): "I just took the opportunity to go off the front and then Eric and an Endura rider (James McCallum) came over. I saw Swifty coming over too so I thought I'd wait for him and I said to Swift, we'll jump them and just me and you get a lap but he didn't come with me. That meant I was out on my own then."

"I am sure Stannard was smashing it when I was trying to get back on which made it quite hard but I eventually did! Then it was just a case of keeping it together and Mark Christian and Chris Whorral helped me doing that. Yesterday was my first day on the track so I guess I'm finding my track legs."

"With the road season, it makes you really strong and you just put a big gear on so I may not be that quick but I have the power for long hard efforts. The jersey though doesn't make up for G beating me at the road nationals but it is sort of halfway -- this will have to do for this year!"

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky, 3rd): "We just went into it where we were all going to ride our own race. If one of the lads (Team Sky) was up the road, I wasn't going to smash it to get him back. I tried to get across on my own and I think it was Chris Whorral who came with me. It came down to sprint though and I knew Swifty was better than me and we were going to sprint it out but then this young lad (Simon Yates) rode really well and jumped us all."

Simon Yates (Max Gear RT, 2nd): "It was good being on the podium with the riders from Sky. It's where I want to be, where I want to get to and hopefully I'll continue and be in their shoes one day." Asked how the race compared to the Junior Worlds where he won a rainbow jersey in the Madison, he replied "I wasn't under as much pressure to be honest. Today, I wasn't a favourite, no-one really knew who I was so it was nice to go on and get on the podium."

"In that final sprint, I was just going as hard as I could. I thought I was going to get swamped by a few riders because I thought I'd gone too early. It was a hard race and pretty fast from the gun. It didn't really stall that much, only when Pete got a lap, but after that it was still hard. When you see Sky gathering together at the front, I did wonder ‘what's going on here'. You have to be alert and keep your eye on the ball and make sure nothing's really going".

Women's Points:

Corrine Hall (Team Corridori, Winner): "I am over the moon, I can't believe it! I was going for a few sprints and really suffering, I wasn't getting anything so I thought the way I have got to do it is get off the front. There were two riders away and I thought, that's the move. We stayed away for a while but their turns were not that good so with three laps to go before a sprint, I thought I have to go for it."

"After I got the sprint, I kept going and for ages I was 20 metres off the back and at one stage I didn't think I was going to get there. I thought with a sprint coming up though, the bunch would have to play it a bit tactical and they did which played into my hands. I got on and knew Dani (King) was the only rider who could beat me and I followed her as much as I could. Then I got some points at the end which sealed the victory."

"It is my first senior championship after a load of seconds and my first proper win in ages so I'm over the moon."

Dani King (Horizon Fitness, 2nd): "I went into the race to be consistent in every sprint and to go with any moves and it all started perfectly. I thought I had it in the bag but there you go, that's bike racing. There was only three points in it I think going into the final sprint but I was just gassed after going for literally every sprint."

"To be honest though, if you'd said eight weeks ago I'd have two Silver medals, I would have taken it because I didn't even think at that time I would be riding the championships after having glandular fever. I am gutted though, being so close but the Gold will be mine one day."

Anna Blyth (100% ME 3rd) : "I'm happy with the result. I have never finished a Points race like that before so to get a medal as well, I'm over the moon to be honest. I didn't see Corrine go and was concentrating on where I needed to be for each sprint. For the last sprint, I was conscience that Ruby was only a few points away so I thought for the last sprint, I'd go for it and hope the best."