03/03/2011 - Another National Record fell by the wayside this morning at the RaboDirect Age Group Championships.
Following the lead by team mates Erin Criglington and Jacqui Dearlove last night, Southland's Bruce Jones lowered the mark he set at last year's Track Nationals in the Men Masters (Cat 3) 2000m Individual Pursuit. Jones, with his nephew Tim Carswell calling his laps, set 2'36.054 to shave over half a second off his previous record.
Jones will face Auckland's Colin Claxton in tonight's final after Claxton set 2'36.618 in qualifying. Auckland's Richard Justice will face Waikato-Bay of Plenty's Les Candy for bronze.
In Category 2, Peter Jenkins qualified top with a 3'41.893 and will face Southland's Simon Lusk in tonight's gold medal ride after Lusk laid down a 3'42.283. Auckland Andrew McKay will face off against the defending champion Kerry Harford for bronze.
Category 1's IP title will go to either Auckland's Brett Slater or defending champion Manu Robson while Southland Derek Tan will face Tasman's Warrick Spence in the ride for bronze.
Morning qualifying also featured the Under 17 Girls and Boys Individual Pursuits. Devon Hiley of Auckland was a class above the field to qualify in top spot over two seconds in front of Waikato Bay of Plenty's Robin Hacker-Cary. The ride-off for bronze will feature two Southlanders, Laura Heywood and Jen Muhl.
Michael Culling continued his fine form by qualifying fastest in the Under 17 boys in 2'23.563 and will face Mid South Canterbury's Alex Hooper in the ride for gold while Josh Haggerty of Southland will take on Canterbury's Connor Stead for bronze.
The Masters Team Sprint will see an all Southland affair in the gold medal ride. Mike White, Jerry Stock and Garry Smith qualified fastest with 50.982 and will line-up against Richard Eade, Roger Nicholas and Neil Familton who finished with a 51.966.
The Bronze Medal will be decided between a Composite Team featuring Alex Laplanche (WEL), Steve Woods (CAN) and Andrew Thomson (CAN) and Waikato/Bay of Plenty of Manu Robson, Craig Manktelow and Ross Clark.
Tonights finals start from 6.30pm and will also feature time trials for Under 15s and Under 19s.