May 8/06 1:19 am - "Spring Clean-Up" Track Race

Posted by Editoress on 05/8/06
 

Cyclemeisters Calgary/Team Bow Cycle Spring Clean-Up
Courtesy ABA & Jim Smith, Race Director, President Cyclemeisters Calgary/Team Bow Cycle

The Alberta track season started this weekend with the Cyclemeisters Calgary/Team Bow Cycle Spring Clean-Up. This event is part of the season long Journal Cup series and provided national ranking points. A total of 61 riders signed on for some or all of the events. The field included a number of current and former national champions such as Cam McKinnon (The Track Team), Doug Baron (The Track Team), Bob Veroba (Bicisport), Ryan MacKenzie (Independent) Anne-Brit Ericksen (Symmetrics) and juniors Eric Smith, Monique Sullivan and Danielle Kenny (all from host club CMC/Bow Cycle).

Saturday was warm and windy - a typical "nice" Calgary May day. In men's cat 1/2, Cam McKinnon opened the day with the fastest sprint of 10.72. Cam and second qualifier Doug Baron made it successfully through the qualifying rounds to meet in the final, where Cam won 2-0 in two closely fought, clean sprints. Cam also impressed in the men's scratch race where he worked alone to take a lap on the field. A second group of eight also worked to catch the pack, although in the end only Bob Veroba, Ryan MacKenzie and Jamie Sparling (Bicisport) caught Cam. In the final sprint, Cam was able to outpower Ryan and Bob for the win. In men's pursuit action, Technical Director Andy Holmwood of the ABA matched the top riders in the final pairing of the morning with Ryan MacKenzie defeating Bob Veroba with a 4:57.5 to 4:58.3.

Men's cat 3 included all of the juniors vying for positions on the Alberta team for the national championships in July. Eric Smith (CMC/Bow Cycle) showed sprinter's speed with an 11.48 qualifier (fourth fastest of the day) and ultimately defeated second qualifier Frank Kovacs (Synergy Racing) in the final, 2-0. Eric also backed up his national pursuit record with a strong 3:39.0 /3000 metre pursuit. In the scratch race, five of the junior riders set a fast pace that the other riders couldn't match from about the fourth lap. With a little over a lap to go, Eric Smith rode away from the other juniors, with Spencer Smitheman (Juventus) winning the sprint for second.

Women's A racing saw the best sprint action of the day with national junior sprint champion Monique Sullivan (CMC/Bow Cycle) defeating national Keirin champ Anne-Brit Ericksen 2-0 in the final. These were well fought sprints with Anne-Brit pushing Monique right to the line. The scratch race pace pack was fairly evenly matched with no rider able to make any break stick. In the end, Monique Sullivan powered away from the field in the final straight with Laura Brown (CMC/Bow Cycle) taking the sprint for second over Natasha Kuzmak (Synergy Racing) and Alison Testroete (CMC/Bow Cycle).
In the Open Women's A 3000 metre pursuit, Laura Brown was the clear winner with a 4:06.7. The junior women saw a see-saw battle through the whole 2000 metre pursuit until national champion Danielle Kenny (CMC/Bow Cycle) pulled away from Monique Sullivan in the last lap to win with a 2:44.4 over 2:45.9.

Sunday offered another beautiful Alberta spring day, with much less wind than Saturday. The day's highlight came in the cat 3 kilo, where junior Eric Smith set what we believe is a new Canadian national junior record of 1:08.70. Spencer Smitheman took the hotly contested points race over Nic Andrichuk (CMC/Bow Cycle), while Eric Smith defeated Frank Kovacs in the Keirin.

In men's cat 1/2, Bob Veroba, normally known as an endurance rider, nipped Doug Baron in the kilo with a 1:09.13 to 1:09.21. Jamie Sparling treated the crowd to a points race clinic, taking a lap on the field, which was being controlled by his teammate Bob Veroba, and riding away again with a couple of laps to go to take the final sprint.
In the women's 500, Anne-Brit Ericksen took the win in 38.118 over Monique Sullivan's 38:828. Monique came back to dominate the women's field later in the day with wins over Laura Brown and Anne-Brit Ericksen in the points and Keirin races respectively.

Overall omnium winners:
Cat 1/2: Ryan Mackenzie (Independent)
Women A: Monique Sullivan (CMC/Bow Cycle)
Cat 3: Eric Smith (CMC/Bow Cycle)
Cat 4: James Purdy (Bicisport)
Cat 5: Stephen Andrichuk (CMC/Bow Cycle)
Women B: Michelle Beveridge (Bicisport)