2011 UCI Track Cycling Masters World Championships

The UCI World Masters have returned to Manchester and racing got underway on Monday morning with Men’s Sprint and Pursuiting taking place in the morning session. We have reports from both sessions.

Evening Session

The evening session for day 1 of the World Masters saw nine world titles award to riders during a thrilling four hours of racing with several of those for British riders.

Men’s Sprint 55-59

Round 2
After the morning qualifying session, the number of riders in contention for the medals was being reduced and in Round 2 of the Sprint competition, each of the heats went to form with the favourites easily dispensing of their opponents.
In heat 1, Richard Voss (USA) won easily his heat against Andy Laing (GBr) while Aussie David Wilmott, the defending champion, also had no trouble defeating Aron Seiken of the USA.
Britain’s Steve Cronshaw was next onto the track, against Van Beek of Holland and Cronshaw like the riders before him cruised to victory, holding his opponent high on the track until the last turn on the final lap before Cronshaw dropped to the bottom of the banking and from then on having no trouble out pacing his Dutch rival.
The final heat of round 2 was won by Gil Hatton of the USA who defeated New Zealand’s Scott Russell.

Semi Finals
These heats were the best of three matches and in it only took Gil Hatton two rides to defeat Richard Voss to progress to the final for the Gold medal. It was the same in the other heat as defending champion David Wilmott managed to hold off the strong challenge of Steve Cronshaw twice to go through to the final for gold against Hatton. For Cronshaw however, his chance of a medal lay in the Bronze medal ride against Voss.

Podium L-R: David Wilmott, Gil Hatton and Steve Cronshaw.

Finals
Gold/Silver Medal Heats
The racing between these two was so close in the final for Gold that in the first heat, the victory margin for Gil Hatton was only a centimetre and tactics were surely going to play a big part in  deciding where the Gold medal went in the next match. In that, the defending champion from Australian certainly threw all he had at Hatton in the next heart which he had to win but a big lunge at the line by Hatton was enough to clinch the Gold and show how pleased he was with a  celebration so wild he was given a warning by the judges!

Bronze Medal Final
The ride off for the Bronze medal, whilst close and exciting to watch, the challenge from Voss was not the same as in the one between Hatton and Wilmott. Cronshaw was simply to quick, way to quick in fact in the first heat and while Voss got closer in the second heat, the very experienced Cronshaw was just to good for his opponent from the USA.

Minor Final
The ride off for 5th to 8th went to New Zealand rider Russell Scott who had qualified 4th earlier in the day but until the minor final had not been able to make use of that speed. That changed in the four up race for 5th to 8th where Russell blitzed his rivals, winning by the length of the finishing straight with a photo finish behind him between Andy Laing and Aaron Seiken for the next two places. Maas van Beek came behind them for fourth and 8th overall in the competition.

… More reports below the Gallery

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Men’s Sprint 60-64
Round 2
There were three heats for round 2 of the 60-64 sprint where Argentina supplied two of the winners. In heat 1, Carlos Reybaud was too quick for Rene Grignon of France whilst in heat 2, Eduardo Gualtieri of Argentina defeated Mark Rodamaker (USA).

The third and final heat in this round of the 60-64 Sprint saw Australian Peter Gumbley up against French rider Marc Dangleterre and whilst the Aussie gave Dangleterre the run around on the track, the French rider was just too quick and with a late rush at the line, Dangleterre won through to the semi finals while Gumbley would join the other losers in the repechages.

Round 2 Rep
It was in the reps that Gumbley fought his way back into the competition, leading the race from the front and easily holding off the challenge of Rene Grignon and Mark Rodamaker.

Semi Finals
As in round 2, both the semi finals were won by the riders from Argentina to make it an all Argentinian final for Gold. In the first heat, Peter Gumbley did his best against Carlos Reybaud but the number 1 seed after the qualifying was far too fast and Reybaud went through in two rides.

In the other heat, Eduardo Gualtieri of Argentina had no trouble against Dangleterre of France, winning both matches with ease and going through to meet his teammate in the final for Gold while in the fight for bronze, it was going to be another rematch between Dangleterre and Gumbley.

L-R Eduardo Gualtieri, Carlos Reybaud and Peter Gumbley

Finals
Gold/Silver
Match A didn’t get off to the best of starts with Carlos Reybaud slipping down the backing on the opening lap as they slowly circled the track. In the rerun, there was no repeat of any slipping on the track  as the pace was a little brisker this time.

Both Argentinean riders were closely matched and whilst Gualtieri certainly had a good go at winning the title, his teammate Reybaud was simply to fast and won both heats to clinch the Gold medal with Silver going to Gualtieri.

Bronze medal ride-off
This was expected to be a win for Frenchman Marc Dangleterre and certainly in the first heat, the rider from France was way to quick for the Aussie Gumbley. In match B however, Gumbley hit back and won that in a very tight finish to level the heat at one match all. It was all down to Match C and with Gumbley leading from the bottom of the track, Dangleterre was forced to go the long way round. That journey was probably one too far for him and despite a strong challenge down the home straight, the Aussie held on to win the bronze medal.

Men’s 35-39 Kilometre Time Trial
Fastest in the four lap race of the track was British VC St Raphael rider, Ben Elliott,  who took the lead in the penultimate heat and managed to keep that place at the top of the table. The USA’s Sky Christopherson was second and Terence Mackin (Ireland) a very happy bronze medal winner in third.

L-R: Sky Christopherson, Ben Elliott and Terence Mackin.

1.    Ben Elliott (Gbr)  1.06.152
2.    Sky Christopherson (USA) 1.06.491
3.    Terence Mackin (Ireland) 1.06.956
4.    James Taylor (Gbr) 1.07.370
5.    Neil Campbell (Gbr) 1.08.030
6.    Ieuan Williams (Gbr)  1.08.149
7.    Per Bjess (USA) 1.08.212
8.    Boyd Roberts (South Africa) 1.08.483
9.    Estevm Ciampone (Brazil) 1.09.076
10.    Wesley Peirce (USA) 1.09.265
11.    Andrew Gerber (Australia) 1.09.672
12.    Adam Roberts (Gbr) 1.09.908
13.    Mario Nell (South Africa)  1.10.088
14.    Yann Dujarrier (Fra) 1.10.432
15.    Axel Boland (Holland) 1.10.480
16.    Alessendro Picco (Ita) 1.10.639
17.    Mickael Dhinnin (France) 1.11.006
18.    Bryce Dyer (Gbr) 1.11.114
19.    Thierry Forler (France) 1.11.301
20.    Roald Sogno (South Africa) 1.13.133
21.    Dario Ayala (Puerto Rico)  1.13.599
22.    Jason Streather (GBr) 1.14.277
23.    Callum Finlayson, (GBr) 1.14.625
24.    Jean Claude Voegeli (Swi) 1.14.629
25.    Cyrille Santerre (Fra) 1.16.360
26.    Roberto Colon (Puerto Rico) 1.19.611
27.    Howard Heighton (GBr) 1.21.691

Men’s 65-69 500 metre Time Trial
Former Olympian for Great Britain and a rider who has won countless titles over the decades, Geoff Cooke was in a class of his own, winning the title as the only rider to go under 38 seconds. Stan Gregg of the USA was second almost half a second down with British rider David Rowe making it two Brits on the podium.

L-R: Stan Gregg, Geoff Cooke and David Rowe.

1.    Geoff Cooke (Gbr) 37.774
2.    Stan Gregg (USA) 38.232
3.    David Rowe (Gbr) 38.469
4.    G Pastosti (Ita) 38.837
5.    Lance Ravenhill (Gbr) 39.002
6.    Michael Briat (Fra) 40.077
7.    Stefan Munch Hansen (Denmark) 40.134
8.    Kevin McComb (Nzl) 40.192
9.    Sandy Wallace (Gbr) 40.366
10.    Bill Cotton (Gbr) 41.262
11.    Robert Wilson (South Africa) 41.472
12.    Barry Ferguson (GBr) 42.200
13.    Roger Langlois (Fra)  42.983
14.    George Grant (Gbr) 47.712

Men’s 45-49 Individual Pursuit

L-R: Stephen McNally, Daniel Casper and Kenji Yano.

Gold/Silver Medal
Daniel Casper (USA) lead this race for the title from the start, opening up a gap of two seconds as they came into the final third of the race only to find Stephen McNally coming right back at him and in a nail biting finish, Casper won it by a few tenths of a second.

Bronze medal ride off
Japanese rider Kenji Yano had no trouble winning the Bronze medal against Michael Bevan (South Africa), crossing the line a clear three seconds ahead of the South African.

Men’s 50-54 Individual Pursuit

L-R: Claus Christenson, Stephane Le Beau, & Nick Chadderton

Defending champion Stephane Le Beau of Canada was simply far to classy for his rival Claus Christenson of Denmark, winning the 2,000 metre race off by two seconds. In the ride off for the Bronze medal, this was probably the most exciting pursuit match of the competition so far with Neville Ackerman of  South Africa opening up a gap of a second or so on his rival, Nick Chadderton of Australia before the Aussie started to get a sniff of the finish and in motoring home as he did, Chadderton just managed to steal the medal from the clutches of Ackerman.

Women’s Points Race 35-44

L-R: Siobhan Mullan, Dana Walton and Cheryl Hulskamp

Dana Walton of the USA won this title race after scoring well in the four sprints during the 10 kilometre race. Walton finished event with 14 points to the 8 of the Silver medallist Siobhan Mullan of Britain with a tie for the Bronze between Edwards and Hulskamp with Hulskamp getting the medal due to her better placing at the finish.

A field of 15 riders had started the race with sprints every 10 laps and except for one attack halfway through the race by Mindy Simmons, the field pretty much stayed together for the whole distance, only giving it full gas for the sprints.

In the first sprint, after a leadout from teammate Dana Walton, Kimberely Edwards of the USA scored the five points from Walton but in sprint two, it was Britain’s Siobhan Mullan who took the five points and put herself well into contention for the victory.

Simmons then attacked with 13 to go with Sandra Bletchley (Aus) chasing her. That injection of pace saw the field split only to come back together before Walton stamped her authority on the Gold medal challenge by taking the five points from Simmons and Mullen.

Those points for Walton saw her take the lead and in the final sprint for the line, she made sure of the Gold by winning that final sprint too from Cheryl Hulskamp, Siobhan Mullen and Kimberely Edwards. That finishing position saw Hulskamp win the Bronze from Edwards.

1 Dana Walton (USA)
2 Siobhan Mullan (Gbr)
3 Cheryl Hulskamp (Aus)
4 Kimberley Edwards (USA)
5 Sandra Bletchley (Aus)
6 Elisa Giachino (South Africa)
7 Mindy Simmons (USA)
8 Adriana del Valle Perino (Arg)
9 Alison Holmes (Gbr)
10 Caroline Harding (Gbr)
11. Kate Abbott (South Africa)
12. Clara Lopez (Col)
13. Cheryl Owens (Gbr)
14. Aideen Collard (Irl)
15. Fiona Walker (Gbr)

Men’s 40-44 750 metre Time Trial
Racing in one of the final heats, Australian  Gavin White was stunningly fast, going under 50 seconds for the three laps of the track and winning the race against the watch by over half a second from Andrew Weathers of the USA and Allen Vugrincic, also of the USA.

L-R: Andrew Weather, Gavin White and  Allen Vugrincic

1.    Gavin White (Aus) 49.624
2.    Andrew Weathers (USA) 50.202
3.    Allen Vugrincic (USA)  50.429
4.    Neil Potter (Gbr) 50.584
5.    Aderito DaCruz (Fra) 50.755
6.    Eduardo Leguizamono (Arg) 51.080
7.    Ahcen Aggar (Fra) 51.508
8.    Daniel Rickard (Aus) 52.121
9.    Leandro Ardana (Arg) 52.247
10.    John McClelland (Gbr) 52.289
11.    Lou Pascuzzi (Aus) 52.352
12.    Joseph Santaniello (Norway) 52.414
13.    Michael Paulin (USA) 52.741
14.    John Paul Benvenuto (Fra) 53.079
15.    Guy Tucker (USA) 53.503
16.    Frederick Martin (France) 53.708
17.    Guy Moulson (Gbr) 53.942
18.    Joseph Wetzell(USA) 54.314
19.    Kurt Broadhag (USA) 54.583
20.    Brendan Wheelan (Ire) 54.941
21.    Amaury Hernandez (Pur) 55.044
22.    Paul Gittins (Gbr) 55.104
23.    Matt Beeton (Gbr) 55.382
24.    Graziano Guerra (Ita) 56.182
25.    Guiseppe Ravasio (Ita) 56.246
26.    David Kirby (Gbr) 56.939
27.    Brian Coonan (Ire) 1.01.173

Women’s 45+ Points Race (40 laps)

L-R: Orla Hendron, Janet Birkmyre and Jayne Payne.

The final race of the evening saw seven riders take to the track for this race with four sprints every ten laps. Whilst Janet Birkmyre was certainly favourite with no-one in the race remotely as quick as her, there were riders willing to challenge her for that title.

Orla Hendron of Ireland was one who was not afraid to attack and nor was British rider Jayne Payne but despite several injections of pace as they took turns to attack, Birkmyre never looked like being distanced and each time, was on the moves in the blink of an eye.

That made the race a walkover for Birkmyre who had twice the points total of the next rider even before the final sprint which she won as well to give her 20 points, 10 more than second placed rider Orla Hendron with Jayne Payne in third on 7 points.

1. Janet Birkmyre (Gbr) 20
2. Orla Hendron (Ireland) 10
3. Jayne Payne (Gbr) 7
4. Hamada Makiko (Japan)  5
5. Liz Clayon (Gbr) 2

Day 1 – Morning Session
The first morning of competition saw the Men’s Sprint (55-59 and 60-64) and Men’s Pursuit (45-49 and 50-54) take place with riders from all over the World competing to progress to the latter rounds of each event.

Men’s Sprint 55-59
First event to take place was the qualifying session for the Men’s Sprint for 55-59 year olds and fastest was Richard Voss of the USA with a time of 11.458, a new unofficial world best. Second was David Willmott of Australia (11.558) and third Steve Cronshaw (Gbr) with a time of 11.584.

In the first round, there were five heats of three riders with the winners of each going through to the next round whilst the losers were relegated to riding the repechages. Winners of the round 1 heats was a truly international mix with Richard Voss (USA), David Wilmott (Australia), Steve Cronshaw (Gbr), Scott Russell (NZL) and Gill Hatton (USA) all victors in their respective heats.

The final racing of the morning in this competition was the repechages where there were three heats. In the first, Maas Van Beek of Holland defeated Mark Zasche of Britain and Brenhard Kluender of Germany. The second heat saw a second British rider get through to the next round as Andy Laing beat fellow Brit Martin Bush to the line.

In the final repechage, the USA’s Aron Seiken defeated his countryman Steve Smith and Jim Robertson of Britain while Britain’s David Smith came to grief, crashing out on the final bend before the finish.

Mens Sprint 60-64
The qualifying round of this competition saw 12 riders take to the track for the flying 200 and the winner was Carlos Reybaud of Argentina whose time of 12.088 was quickest. Second fastest was Mark Rodamaker of the USA (12.104) and Eduardo Gualteri  of Argentina (12.208).

The next round of this competition saw four heats of three riders take place with competitors from four different countries coming through as winners. In heat 1, Carlos Reybaud (Arg) defeated the two Brits Geoff Brandt and Doug Conroy. In heat 2 Mark Rodamaker (USA) won through beating Rene Grignon of France and Patrick Whelan of the USA.

The heat 3 winner was Marc Dagleterre of France who defeated Eduardo Gualteri  of Argentina and Malcolm Clasohm (Australia) whilst in heat 4, Peter Gumbley of Australia held off the challenge of Italian Angelo Onofri and Eddie Malarczyk (Gbr).

The only way of staying in the competition for the losers in each of the first round heats was to win through in the repechages and we’ll have the results from that later in the day.

Men’s 45-49 Individual Pursuit
There were twenty eight riders in the qualifying round of the Pursuit with the fastest being the USA’s Daniel Casper with a time of 3.33.501 for the 3,000 metres. His time was only a fraction quicker than Stephen McNally of Ireland who recorded a time 3.33.683 ensuring that the final is a very close battle for the champion’s jersey.

The ride off for the bronze medal will be between Kenji Yano of Japan, who was a close third in qualifying with a time of 33.835 and he will meet fourth  and final qualifier, Michael Bevan of South Africa with a time of 3.35.187.

Fastest of the British riders was Peter Ettles with a time of 3.36.328 for 5th place.

Men’s 50-54 Individual Pursuit 2000 metres
The qualifying session for the 50-54 event saw eighteen riders race over 2,000 metres with the fastest four progressing through to the medal finals. It was Danish rider Claus Christiansen who topped the table with a time of 2.20.460, an average speed of over 51 kph.

He will meet Stephane Lebeau of Canada in the final who recorded a time of 2.20.960 for the distance, a few tenths slower but close enough in time to ensure the final for the rainbow jersey is a hard fought one.

The bronze medal final will see Neville Ackerman of South Africa (2.25.164) meet Australian Nick Chadderton (2.25.194) and with their times also very very close, that race off will be another exciting final in the Pursuit. First British rider in the qualifying session was David Mills with a time of 2.29.794 (6th).

FURTHER INFORMATION
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