03/03/2011 - Southland's Bruce Jones had to share his success with plenty of mates on the third night of finals at the RaboDirect Age Group Track Championships in Invercargill.
The 55 year old Southlander won the men’s 55 years plus individual pursuit national title in record time at the ILT Velodrome.
Jones had the loan of some racing handle bars and another friend had to provide him with a helmet. And he also raced with borrowed wheels.
“It’s fantastic to win. My ride was put together by a whole group of people helping out.”
Jones said the real secret was enticing his nephew and BikeNZ head track coach Tim Carswell to call his splits during the record setting rides.
BikeNZ National Track Coach Tim Carswell is Jones’ nephew and was on hand to call out splits for Jones during his record setting rides.
He lowered his own record in the morning qualifying and then beat that by by more than three seconds in the final.
“You absolutely want to win. It’s a feel good thing. But the record is a real bonus. It’s a family affair.”
The master’s records are hotly contested with this individual pursuit mark broken three times and equalled once in the last month.
Southland also claimed the Cat 2 Master Men Individual Pursuit with Simon Lusk powering to a comfortable victory over West Coast North Island's Peter Jenkins to take his first national medal. Defending champion Kerry Harford had to be content with third.The Cat 1 title belongs to Auckland's Brett Slater who controlled his final ride against Mau Robson and powered away to win by nearly 8 seconds. Southland's Derek Tan took bronze.
Earlier Waikato/Bay of Plenty's Jaymie King took the Under 15 Girls 500m Time Trial title from Amanda Rowe and Olivia Podmore while the Boys title went to Southland Liam Haggerty from Connell Leahy and Josh Carpenter.
The Under 17 IP champions were also found. Auckland's Devon Hiley took the final from Robin Hacker-Cary with Laura Heywood winning an all-Southland bronze medal ride over Jen Muhl by just over a second. Alex Hooper took the Boys title, handing Michael Culling his first non-gold of the champs (although silver is not all bad) with fellow Southlander Josh Haggerty third.
Southland's Stephanie McKenzie was too fast for rival Paige Paterson (Auckland) in the under 19 women’s 500 metre time trial. In the scrap for the last of the sprint discipline titles, McKenzie flew home to record a new national record of 35.956 seconds. McKenzie had already secured the sprint title from Paterson on Tuesday, with Paterson retaliating with the keirin title last night.
Sophie Williamson was the fastest of the omnium riders in this event, taking her third win from three events to consolidate her lead at the top of the standings. She has a five point lead over Raquel Sheath and Cassie Cameron after three events.
The U19 Mens Kilo was a great battle. Canterbury's Alex Frame set the early pace with a 1'05.018 which held up all the way to the final heat of the night. Dylan Kennett and Tom Beadle traded the lead over their four laps but Kennett was ahead when it mattered taking yet another national title, with Frame second and Beadle third. Kennett's win gives him a narrow lead at the top of the Mens Omnium standings by a solitary point from Tom Beadle, with a further 9 points to the nearest competitor.
In on eof the spectacles of the night Southland doubled up to claim gold and silver in the Masters Men's team sprint. The "youthful" combination of Garry Smith, Jerard Stock and Mike White took gold from their more experienced Southland team mates, Richard Eade, Roger Nicholas and Neil Familton who earned silver.
Full results can be found here.
The Age GRoups Champs continue tomorrow from 10am at the ILT Velodrome in Invercargill.
BikeNZ Road and Track Points Shield
As at end of Day 6 - Unofficial Results, subject to commissaire approval
CENTRE | Fri 25 |
Sat 26 |
Sun 27 |
ELITES TOTAL |
Tue 1 |
Wed 2 |
Thu 3 |
Fri 4 |
Sat 5 |
GRAND TOTAL |
Northland | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Auckland | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 52 | ||
Waikato/Bay of Plenty | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 28 | ||
West Coast North Island | 7 | 7 | 9 | 23 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 35 | ||
East Coast North Island | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 | ||||||
Wellington | ||||||||||
Tasman | 6 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 16 | ||||
Canterbury | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 18 | |||
Mid South Canterbury | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | ||||
Otago | 7 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16 | ||
Southland | 12 | 12 | 24 | 48 | 27 | 34 | 24 | 133 |