National Track Series: Day 2

Boothman and Morris secure Madison national title while Ben Swift bags Omnium jersey at Lloyds National Track Series.

REPORT: (British Cycling Press Release) Boothman and Morris secure Madison national title while Ben Swift bags Omnium jersey at Lloyds National Track Series.

Riders returned to the home of British Cycling, the National Cycling Centre in Manchester, for the second day of round three of the Lloyds National Track Series. The series round also featured national championship events in the women’s Madison and the open omnium.

A strong field faced off against each other. In the women’s Madison, world champion duo Katie Archibald (dooleys cycles) and Maddie Leech (Handsling Alba Development Road Team) donned their rainbow jerseys, with the likes of Erin Boothman (Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco), Anna Morris (Private Member), Jenny Holl (Loughborough Lightning) and Jess Roberts (Spectra Racing) in contest.

PHOTO: Alison Salthouse https://www.facebook.com/alison.salthouse

In the Men’s omnium, a strong field saw the likes of Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC), Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco CT), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Henry Hobbs (FH MAS CAMS) face off against one another.
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Lloyds National Women’s Madison Championship
Team Boothman/Morris, including Erin Boothman (Tofauti Everyone Active Majaco) and Anna Morris (Private Member) produced the shock of the weekend, beating the Madison world champions to come home with national championship jerseys in a frantic final.

Boothman and Morris attacked the race early on, picking up the first five out of six sprints at the halfway point. Archibald and Leech did not let up, continuing to place in the top three throughout the competition.

At lap 60, the race was neutralised following a crash which saw Team Holl/Roberts – Jenny Holl (Loughborough Lightning) and Jess Roberts (Spectra Racing) – retire. On restart, the initial intensity of the first half had settled slightly, but Boothman and Morris continued picking up points in the sprints, and with a win on sprint 10, the gap between them and the world champions was too big to close.

Taking the final sprint for good measure, Boothman and Morris topped the table with 50 points, ahead of Archibald and Leech in second on 32 points. A brilliant ride by Team Couzens/Lewis – Millie Couzens (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Sophie Lewis (DAS-Hutchinson) – saw them complete the podium positions on 26 points.

The win makes it two national championship jerseys out of two for Anna Morris this weekend and the first senior Lloyds National Championship jersey for Erin Boothman, who dominated at the National Youth and Junior Track Championships earlier this year.

Speaking after their win, Anna Morris said: “We’re a new pairing, but I was really excited for it, and it was a great feeling to ride with Erin today. We just wanted to execute a good ride and if that was enough for the jersey we’d be happy. We committed to the plan and it paid off”

Erin Boothman added: “I never expected it, but I knew with Anna, I had a good chance. I wasn’t too nervous; I didn’t have any expectations, so to come away with a win was more than I could ask for and more than I expected.”
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Lloyds National Open Omnium Championship
In the first event of the day, the scratch, Lewis Askey (GROUPAMA – FDJ) lay down a marker, topping the standings and securing the full 40 points towards the omnium. Toby Tombs (Team Ohten Aveas) had a great ride, finishing second, while a brilliant sprint over the outside propelled Henry Hobbs (FH MAS CAMS) into third. Matt Bostock (TEKKERZ CC) took fourth while William Tidball (Chorlton Velo) finished the top five.

The tempo to follow was hotly contested, with a number of early plays for control of the race that were all caught. A team effort from Oliver Wood (TEKKERZ CC), Charlie Tanfield (Team Inspired (UCI Track Team), Mark Stewart (Solution Tech Vini Fantini), Denholm Edwards (Cycling Sheffield) and Will Perrett (DAS Richardsons) defined the race, making a play for the lap after sprint 23. The group finally gained the 20 points with six laps to go, all sharing the spoils of tempo points along the way.

Stewart topped the tempo, having taken four sprint points earlier in the race. Wood finished second, ahead of Tanfield in third, Perrett in fourth and Edwards in fifth. Ensuring he stayed top of the overall omnium standings, Askey did his work early doors, winning the first eight sprints by some margin to claim sixth.

In the elimination, Askey went back to winning ways. Down to the final two, a tactical sprint took place, with Askey holding the inside line, denying Swift a route through, before kicking on to sprint home in a brilliant finish. Wood was denied a top two face-off by the tightest of margins on the line to finish third. Stewart left everything out on the track to finish fourth, while Perrett had another brilliant race, finishing fifth.

Askey led by six points going into the points race, ahead of Wood in second, meaning everything was still to play for.

The final race of the weekend, the points race, ensured the programme finished things on a high. After lap six, Ben Swift was on a mission to lap, gaining it shortly after winning the seventh sprint, putting him in second behind Stewart, whose lap gain after the fifth sprint put him ahead of Askey.

Coming down to the wire, Swift and Askey were neck and neck at the bell, but as Askey faded, Swift only powered on, winning the final sprint to secure top spot, finishing on 126 points. Stewart, dethroned at the death, finished in second on 122 points, while Askey held on to complete the podium positions on 115 points.

After his win, Ben Swift said: “I didn’t expect that, I just came here for a bit of fun. I just wanted to enjoy coming back to the track, I haven’t done much since March but I enjoyed getting back on it. We always knew the points was going to be my strong point, it always was back in the day, but I needed to be patient, pick my moment and it worked out.”
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Lloyds National Track Series: Para
In the open para-C series, Matthew Robertson (Woolwich CC) showed he meant business, producing a rocket of a kilo and taking top spot in the process. The C2 National Champion clocked a very impressive time of 1:07.600, ahead of Finlay Webb (Exeter Wheelers) in second with a time of 1:13.894 and Ben Wood (ESV Manchester) in third on a time of 1:15.998.

Speaking after his win, Robertson said: “I haven’t been doing a lot of kilo stuff in a long time so I was a bit nervy to see how it would go, but I’m glad it went as well as it could do. It’s still a way off my PB, but it’s progress.

“It’s been a great year, nothing can quite top 2024, so the adjustment to life after a Paralympic year is something to get used to, but there’s definitely been great strides of development and progress for the future.”

In the para-B series, Georgina Bullen (Born to Bike Racing Team), piloted by Miriam Jessett (Loughborough Lightning) made it two series events from two for the weekend, winning in the open sprint in two races. Facing off against Ella Briant (Born to Bike Racing Team), piloted by Ella Taylor (Born to Bike Racing Team), Bullen and Jessett were a cut above, winning both sprints comfortably.

Speaking after the win, Bullen and Jessett said: “We’re pretty chuffed. We came in, performed consistently, did what we wanted to do, executed plans and learnt some lessons. We decided what we wanted to do beforehand and we did it, we can’t do any more than that so we’re happy – it’s been a good weekend. ”

PHOTOS: Alison Salthouse https://www.facebook.com/alison.salthouse