August 31/08 10:53 am - Track Nationals Day 4 report and results

Posted by Editoress on 08/31/08
 

Canadian National Track Championships Day 4 August 30th, Burnaby, BC
Report courtesy CSN

Joseph Veloce of Fonthill, Ont., defeated Zach Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon in the men's Match Sprint final for the gold medal on Saturday at the Tim Hortons Track Nationals cycling competition.

Veloce took the best of three final over Bell, who was seventh in the Points Race and 12th in the Madison (with Martin Gilbert) at the Olympic Games this month in Beijing. Rene Regimbald of Calgary was third.

"I knew that Zach is more of an endurance rider so I tried to just keep the sprint as short as possible," said Veloce, 19. "I knew I had to lead it out because it was going to be a tight race. My goal here was to reach the podium but to get the gold is beyond expectations for me."

In the women's Scratch Race, Stephanie Roorda of Victoria won the gold medal with Lisa Perlmutter of London, Ont., second and Tara Whitten of Edmonton third. In the Individual Pursuit final, Whitten was the winner with Roorda second and Laura Brown of Victoria third.

Laurie-Anne Dupont-Renaud of Montreal continued her dominant performance in women's Junior competition with victories in the Individual Pursuit and the Scratch Race on Saturday.

In the Individual Pursuit she finished ahead of Krista Ruby of Inglewood, Ont., and Virginie Gauthier of Laval, Que. In the Scratch Race Shanie Bergeron of Chateauguay, Que., was second and Florence Laplante-Lamarche of Ottawa third.

Quebec's Frederic Poisson took the men's Junior Keirin, with Ryan Aitcheson of Kitchener, Ont., second and Jacob Schwingboth of B.C., third.

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CC also spoke with Joe Veloce minutes after his win. "I was able to do it in two rides, which was important. Since he (Zach Bell) is more of an endurance rider. I knew that I had to attack. On the first ride he started to wind it up fairly early, but I held it up high on the track as long as possible so that I could initiate the final sprint."

"On the second ride, surprisingly he gave me a big gap in front, and I tried to open it up more. For the final lap he got back on my wheel, but I just hit it and was able to hold on."

"Last year as a Junior I was second, and this year as a first year Senior I was hoping to podium, so this has definitely exceeded my expectations."

Veloce is a member of the London, Ontario Forest City Velodrome program, where he started racing on the track three and a half years ago.