The world championship medallist, fresh from battle in last night’s sprints, returned to the fray in the keirin events on the third morning session at the BikeNZ Track Cycling National Championships in Cambridge today.
Olympic bronze medallist in this event, Simon van Velthooven dominated his heat, and joining him among the eight riders who automatically progress to tonight’s semifinals were the world championship winning trio of Sam Webster, Ethan Mitchell and Eddie Dawkins along with their BikeNZ High Performance teammate Matt Archibald.
The others to join them after another enterprising session at the new Avantidrome were Mid South Canterbury’s Daniel Rafferty and the Southland pair of Ben Stewart and Jeremy Presbury.
The four winners of the repechage races to join them in the semifinals were Zac Williams (Auckland), Greg Potter (Auckland), Karl Watson (Southland) and Fabian Wybrow (Southland).
The leading trio of women’s sprinters also progressed comfortably in the keirin including heat winner Natasha Hansen (Southland), the 500mm time trial champion Katie Schofield (Otago) and last night’s sprint winner Stephanie Mckenzie (Southland).
Joining them in tonight’s final is Racquel Sheath (Waikato BOP) and Christchurch sisters Elizabeth and Victoria Steel.
Tonight features the semifinals and finals of the under-19 sprints, the semifinals and final of the keirin, the under-19 points race, the elite women’s scratch race and elite men’s points race.
The championship concludes tomorrow.
CAPTION: Great view of the racing action at the Avantidrome inCambridge.
Image courtesy Dianne Manson
Detail and live blog: www.tracknationals.co.nz or www.bikenz.org.nz