RaboPlus New Zealand Track Cycling Championships – Day 3 Heats
Saturday 13 February 2010, 2:30PM
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Big Southland sprinter Eddie Dawkins continued his record-breaking efforts to top qualifiers in the men’s sprint on the final morning of the RaboPlus New Zealand Track Cycling Championships in Invercargill.
The 20 year old ripped around the flying one lap in 10.249s to take 25/100ths of a second off the previous record and set the fastest time ever by a New Zealander with his performance at the ILT Velodrome.
It went under the time he set as top qualifier on the way to victory at the recent World Cup in Beijing and thrilled national track coach Justin Grace.
“Eddie has been on fire here this week. He has lifted the bar in all of his events and that is helping raise the standards across the board with our young sprint team,” Grace said.
“It was a huge ride this morning to go under the national record and follows on from his effort in the kilo and also the team sprint trial last night. It’s pretty exciting because Eddie is now producing world class times and if he can continue this progress he can be a contender at the world championships.”
Dawkins progressed to the final where he will take on Palmerston North’s Simon Van Velthooven.
Dawkins proved too strong and produced excellent tactics to beat off the challenge from the triple junior world champion Sam Webster in two straight rides in the best of three semifinal.
Van Velthooven showed his experience to dispose of Auckland’s Ethan Mitchell, who was part of the junior world champion team sprint combination. Van Velthooven dominated the first semifinal ride and had to pull out a frantic finish to edge Mitchell on the line for the 2-0 result.
Defending champion Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) was the top qualifier in the women’s sprint in 12.099, which gave her automatic progress to the semifinals.
She dominated Wellington’s Hannah Latta in two straight rides in the semifinal while Megan Blatchford-Peck (West Coast North Island) needed a third ride to edge out Katie Schofield (Otago) in the other semifinal.
Christchurch teenager Michael Vink, who impressed with his solo break in the recent national road championship, took out the first heat of the men’s scratch race over Olympian Westley Gough, while his fellow national pursuit team-mates Peter Latham (Waikato BOP) and Marc Ryan (Mid South Canterbury) headed the second heat finishers.
Provisional results:
Men’s sprint leading qualifiers: Eddie Dawkins (Southland) 10.249 (NZ record), 1; Ethan Mitchell (Auckland) 10.505, 2; Simon Van Velthooven (West Coast North Island) 10.543, 3; Sam Webster (Auckland) 10.571, 4; Adam Stewart (Canterbury) 10.576, 5; Andy Williams (Auckland) 10.855, 6; Nathan Seddon (Otago) 10.902, 7; Matthew Archibald (Otago) 10.910, 8;
First round: Dawkins bt Jamie Bate (Auckland), Mitchell bt Sean Fox (Southland), Van Velthooven bt Willie Trew (Otago), Webster bt Angus Lindsay (Canterbury), Stewart bt Archibald, Williams bt Seddon.
Repecharge 1: Lindsay 1, Seddon 2, Bate 3. Repecharge 2: Archibald 1, Fax 2, Trew 3.
Quarterfinals (best of three rides): Dawkins bt Archibald 2-0, Mitchell bt Lindsay 2-0, Van Velthooven bt Williams 2-0, Webster bt Stewart 2-0.
Semifinals: Dawkins bt Webster 2-0, Van Velthooven bt Mitchell 2-0.
Women’s sprint leading qualifiers: Natasha Hansen (Canterbury) 12.099, 1; Katie Schofield (Otago) 12.243, 2; Katie Schofield (Otago) 12.296, 3; Katri Laike (Otago) 12.413, 4; Megan Blatchford-Peck (West Coast North Island) 12.512, 5.
First round: Schofield bt Latta, Blatchford-Peck bt Laike. Repecharge: Latta bt Laike.
Semifinals (best of three): Hansen bt Latta 2-0, Blatchford-Peck bt Latta 2-1.
Men’s scratch race qualifying, 7.5km, heat 1: Michael Vink (Canterbury) 1, Westley Gough (East Coast North Island) 2, Joseph Chapman (Otago) 3. Heat 2: Peter Latham (Waikato BOP) 1, Marc Ryan (Mid South Canterbury) 2, Jason Allen (Tasman) 3.