I had a day off on Tuesday and went out for a ride to the top of Snake Pass the entry into the Derbyshire Peak District from the red brick of Manchester, It was a miserable day, proper Manchester weather steady rain and wind but I needed to be outside as the claustrophobia of the track seemed to be heightened by the Pursuit dicipline a very intense effort with an insular focus. With that now gone I could concentrate on the Points and Scratch race, more racing effort and more my thing. The weather was worse at the top of the pass, driving rain and misty low cloud, I was determined to get to the top but immediately turned around to come home as I was getting cold as well, the 30mph decent was blinding but I warmed up once down and the rain receded to a drizzle by the time I was back in my hotel.
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| Madchester |
Two heats with 25 riders and twelve to qualify, only four sprints in a 10Km (40 lap) race that would test the nerves as well as the skills of the riders, I was in the second so I could watch the first and it was completely different styles of raceing. In the first five riders in two groups including the British champion Tony Nash gained a lap mopping up the sprint points as they went, leaving few for the bunch to sprint for. My heat was more closely contested 'sprinters' race and I knew a single point would probably be enough but If I could get two that would make sure. I broke the habit of a lifetime and went for the first sprint and came up 5th which left me short of breath and on the back foot for the second sprint. With only two sprints to score I knew I needed to make it so hard that nobody would come past me and I chased down Peter Ettles (GBR) but could not pass him but I got my three points and all I had to do was make sure I was well up in the final gallop to ensure there was no problems. At this stage quite a few riders not scored so a bit of desperation set in and the last couple of laps like a scratch race and on the bell a mass of barging and elbows making it dangerous so I was on the outside. All four riders on my inside came down in a tangle of frames and bodies, I heard a pair of forks break as I missed a riders head with my wheel as they squirmed up and then down the banking. I was still placed 8th in the finish and 7th overall so comfortable in the end but a near miss on the way, The only rider to miss out Stephen McNally (IRL) who had points but unable to contest the final due to his injuries, the other three walking wounded with no points
We had a few hours to kill before the final at the end of the evening session, brother Phil had come up from London to be my helper for a few days, I think I saw him blanch at the crash and the rider on the floor for quite a while until he could be moved, he had broken his collar bone falling the long way down the track and in the next heat for another age group there was another crash which delayed the rerun until the evening as the session was brought to a halt to let the place calm down. Crashing is part of track racing, the riders and the officials were already getting a feel for the quality of the riding and with such a variety of events and riders, it can all get a bit heated rather than dangerous but you still need to be able to impose yourself and adapt to the style of the racing. Some of the whips were shaking their heads at the maneuvers in the bunches but as a rider you just do not have time to think too much if a rider is too close stick an elbow out and if another does not hold their line then shout, there were 25 nationalities at these Championships but I don't think there was any misunderstanding in the racing, it was full on and committed and you just have to deal with it.
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| Preparation for Points Race |
The final was over 80 laps so more time for the race to develop but judging by the pursuit times allot of very evenly matched and powerful riders and all of the 24 riders has a different strategy to suit their style of riding. I can sit out the first couple of sprints and let the race settle as I plan to make a break to get my points as I'm better from a small group, Michael Blasczyk (GER) took the first 5 Pt's. and Gerardo Gomez (ARG) the second and Kerry Harford (NZL) the third, five points is a big score when things are so tight and the 3-2-1 for the other places looks paultry for the effort required in a mass sprint. No rider had scored twice apart from Thomas Kapuste (GER) who has a 3+1+1 Pt's. so when he scored a single again in the forth won by Ettles (GBR) from Blasczyk and Harford there were allot of riders in contention and plenty of riders with nothing, including me! I had tried to get up in the sprint but 5th the best I could manage, several riders had already tried to get away but the pace was too high and there were too many willing to chase you down but I had to try and so I took my chance in the lull after the forth sprint
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| Tight scoreboard (three sprints to go) |
In this style of race you hope that somebody will come with your attack in a race too fast to suvive on your own, so best not to make your attack too much of a surprise or too hard, a gentle drift over the top is better than a thunderbolt underneath like enticing a fish with some 'tickling' it will only work if you have somebody to work with and after a lap or two on my own Ian Greenstreet (GBR) is up with me but trailing Blasczyk and we settle down and change every half lap, no need to knacker yourself when you have a sprint coming up. We three only have a few laps before the sprint which fall kindly for Greenstreet on the bell so I have to out sprint him and hold off the German for the win and my first points. Blasczyk responds by attacking us a lap later I know we are doomed if we do not work together, it's too late, confusion in the break and the bunch hunt you down and we are swamped by the melee.
I sense that the German duo are working as a team with Kapuste taking the next sprint while I get my breath back and the bunch is getting elongated more and more at every sprint but the pace is still too hot for my sprinting and I can only manage another 5th in the next sprint won by Harford with Kapuste another 2 Pt's putting him in the lead by one point from the New Zealander, Blasczyk on 10 Pt's and Ettles 8 Pt's Gomez 6 Pt's and myself in 6th place
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| That was tough! (Photo's by PDP) |
With the penultimate sprint gone but the bunch in a long line I have no option but to attack again, this time the Pursuit winner Daniel Casper (USA) and Gomez but the Argentinian will not work with the American and keeps swinging up the track, I think he feels he does not have to work but it is not helpng my cause and I have to attack to try and rid myself of them as we have a third of a lap and the bunch in dissaray, I do not have enough in my legs for a third attack after he swings up again with no intention of working. We eventually are absorbed in the bunch and the final gallop is upon us, of all the cheek Gomez gets up and wins it and celebrates like its a scratch race, Blasczyk is second so on the same points as his team mate so its a German 1-2 and Blasczyk takes it by virtue of a better placing in the final sprint, Harford takes the Bronze a point infront of the now sombre Argentinian who thought it was his in a very close race and picks up a warning from the judges for "Entering the sprinters lane when there is already somebody there" ie Dangerous riding and suffers a deduction of points in the relavent sprint(s) I'm 7th (and 2nd British rider) in a final only four scored from the nine that contested the final a pretty poor showing.
Report & Result
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