RaboPlus NZ Track Cycling Championships – Day 2 Wrap

Alison Shanks showed the defence of her world pursuit title is on target at the RaboPlus New Zealand Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill tonight

Shanks followed her New Zealand record this morning with another 3min 30sec ride tonight to win the women’s 3000m individual pursuit on the boards at the ILT Velodrome.

It was an emphatic display by the world champion who was delighted with her display.

“It was really pleasing to back up with two good performances in one day. Two 3.30 rides, I am pretty happy,” Shanks said.

“These times are a pretty good indication that I am on track. I’ve never hit these times this far out from the worlds before. With six weeks still go I think we are in a pretty good position.

“To win a New Zealand title means a lot especially here with so many friends and family here to support me. It’s always fantastic to compete in front of them.”

While she overtook fellow New Zealand team member Lauren Ellis, Shanks was allowed to go on to record a time.

Earlier Auckland’s Kaytee Boyd showed her class to claim the bronze medal in 3:40.910 over national road champion Rushlee Buchanan (Te Awamutu).

The local man of the moment, Eddie Dawkins, continued on his winning run with a withering burst of speed to capture the final of the Keirin.

He struggled throughout the day in the early rounds, after the effects of his brilliant New Zealand record in winning the kilo time trial last night.

Dawkins bided hi.s time before unleashing a massive sprint to hit the front one and a half laps from home and he held off all challenges to win easily from Simon Van Velthooven (Palmerston North) and junior world champion Sam Webster (Auckland).

“My coach said that I needed to wait for the right time and make it count. I was lucky that the pace was on and I was pushing a much bigger gear than the rest. I am pretty happy with that.”

Hawkes Bay rider Westley Gough claimed his first elite individual pursuit title when he accounted for fellow world championship medal winning teammate Peter Latham (Te Awamutu) in the final.

Gough dominated from the gun to win in 4:22.145 with Latham two seconds back.

 “It’s great. I’ve been putting a lot of training effort into this. It’s the first time I have won a pursuit final since I was quite young so it’s a good feeling to do it.

“The time was good. The track was running quite well. It could be faster but I am still happy with my times. The 4.20 this morning was a PB and a 22 tonight was pretty good.

Otago’s Katri Laike got up in the final thrust at the line to grab the women’s keirin title from national sprint champion Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) in a frantic sprint.

Ellis recovered from her pursuit final to produce a gutsy display to take out the gruelling points race over 20km.

The early laps were dominated by Canterbury’s Joanne Keisanowski  before Gemma Dudley (Levin) and Buchanan became prominent.

Ellis decided it was do or die, and produced a superb solo break to lap the field which proved the winning move.

“I had a couple of goes and just didn’t work. I was absolutely wrecked but I knew I had to go. It was now or never. I just kept going, got the lap and held on,” Ellis said.

The men’s points race over 30km went to Cambridge rider Shem Rodger who was aggressive throughout in an exciting final.

Rodger was part of a six-strong group that put a lap on the field and then some hard work from Rodger and his team-mate Peter Latham ensured he gained the victory ahead of Jason Christie (Mid South Canterbury) and Anthony Chapman (Otago).

The evening was sealed with a New Zealand record by a New Zealand combination in the men’s team sprint. World junior champions Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Dawkins produced a world class 44.632s for the three-lap sprint. This broke the national record by a full second and was half a second faster than the previous best time set at the Beijing World Cup last month.

Provisional results:

Women’s 3000m individual pursuit qualifiers: Alison Shanks (Otago) 3:30.180, 1; Lauren Ellis (Mid South Canterbury) 3:36.027, 2; Kaytee Boyd (Auckland) 3:39.079, 3; Rushlee Buchanan (Mid South Canterbury) 3:40.853, 4.

Gold medal ride: Shanks 3:30.882, Ellis 2 (overtaken).

Bronze medal ride: Boyd 3:40.910, 3; Buchanan 3:42.060, 4.

Men’s 4000m individual pursuit qualifiers: Peter Latham (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 4:19.799, 1; Westley Gough (East Coast North Island) 4:20.421, 2; Marc Ryan (Mid South Canterbury) 4:25.938, 3; Jason Allen (Tasman) 4:28.359, 4.

Gold medal ride: Gough 4:22.145, 1; Latham 4:24.481, 2.

Bronze medal ride: Ryan 4:24.511, 3; Allen 4:29.717, 4.

Keirin, men, second round, heat 1: Ethan Mitchell (Auckland) 1, Simon Van Velthooven (West Coast North Island) 2, Angus Lindsay (Canterbury) 3. Time 10.79s. Heat 2: Sam Webster (Auckland) 1, Eddie Dawkins (Southland) 2,

Final:

Women final: Katri Laike (Otago) 1, Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) 2, Hannah Latta (Wellington) 3. Time: 12.814s.

Women’s Points Race, 20km: Ellis 30 points, Gemma Dudley (West Coast North Island) 21, Jo Kiesanowski (Canterbury) 18.

Men’s Points Race, 30km: Shem Rodger  (Waikato Bay of Plenty) 38, Jason Christie (Mid South Canterbury) 33, Anthony Chapman (Otago) 27.