August 28/08 8:43 am - Canadian Track National Championships Day 1

Posted by Editor on 08/28/08
 

Canadian Track National Championships Day 1 - Burnaby, BC

We have a number or reports from Day 1 of the Track Championships, courtesy Rob Good from the Forest City Velodrome and Canadian Sports News. Photos are by Richard Wooles, BC Provincial Coach.

Rob Good:

Over 130 riders are entered in the 2008 Canadian Track Championships at the Burnaby Velodrome. The infield was packed with teams from across Canada. The largest contingent was from the host province and they dominated the majority of the Podiums at the end of Day 1.

The highlight of the first day came in the middle of the afternoon when Canadian Olympian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) set a new track record at the Burnaby Velodrome for the 4000m Pursuit in a blistering time of 4:37.994. Tuft went on to win the Gold medal in the finals against first year Senior Matt Potma.

The Junior Pursuit final came down to the last corner of the last lap, as BC junior Cody Campbell outdistanced Ryan Aitcheson from Ontario. The margin of victory was .539 of a second .... blink and you could not tell who won the race. Excellent performance by both riders.

In every final after the Junior Pursuit the finishes were within a second, BC over Ontario in the Elite Men's Team Pursuit Final, BC over Ontario in the Women's Challenge Pursuit final.

Day 2 features the Junior and Elite Women's Sprint tournament, plus the U17 Omnium and Masters Omnium continues with their third event, the 2000m Time Trial. The final race of the night will have the 25 kilometre Junior Points Race and 40 kilometre Elite Men's Points Race.

CSN:

Svein Tuft's super season continued Wednesday at the Tim Hortons Track Nationals cycling competition as he won the Men's Individual Pursuit. It was a second career national pursuit crown for the Olympian from Langley, B.C..

Tuft defeated Matt Potma of Vancouver in the final. Trevor Gunderson of Calgary was third.

At the Olympic Games, Tuft produced one of Canada's most impressive cycling results with a seventh place finish in the men's time trial road race. Also this season, he placed first overall at Tour de Beauce stage race - the first Canadian to accomplish that feat since 1995 - and was a triple gold medallist on the track at the Pan Am Championships.

"I took a break after the Olympics and I was feeling a little stale early on today," said Tuft. "But once you open up a few time it isn't too bad. In the final, I knew I had to stick to my game plan. I was really impressed with Matt, he's a really strong kid and it's good to see young guys like that right now with that kind of ability. He fought hard."

Tuft is still beaming about his performance in Beijing.

"It's something I'm really proud of," he said. "I came home and it was hard to realize just the magnitude of it. I did better than I imagined. The Olympics lit a fire under me and made me realize I can compete with those guys."

In Junior competition, the top-three in the men's individual pursuit were Cody Campbell of Surrey, B.C., Ryan Aitcheson of Kitchener, Ont. and Kevin Thorpe of North Vancouver in third.



In the Men's Team Pursuit, Potma helped Team Kona/Campione win the gold with John-Christopher Reid, Jonathan Gormick and Scott Laliberte. Team Ontario was second with Daniele Defranchesci, David Byer, Vince de Jong and Stephen Meyer. Team Quebec-Ontario was third with Francois Chabot, Maxime Vives, Jean Michel Lachance and Scott Lundy.

In the Junior Men's Team Pursuit, Team BC 2 took top spot with Campbell, Thorpe, Jacob Schwingboth, and Scott Mulder. Team Quebec was second with Guillaume Charest, Antoine Duchesne, David Boily and Frederic Poisson. Team BC 1 was third with Curtis Jung, Ben Cowburn, Jason Manning and Evan Flater.




Day 1 Preliminary Results

Individual Pursuit

Elite Men
1. Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) BC
2. Matt Potma BC
3. Trevor Gunderson AB

Junior Men
1. Cody Campbell BC
2. Ryan Aitcheson ON
3. Kevin Thorpe BC

Team Pursuit Final

Elite Men
1. Team Kona/Campionne (Matt Potma, John-Christophe Reid, Jonathan Gormick, Scott Laliberte)
2. Team Ontario (Daniele Defranceschi, David Byer, Vince De Jong, Stephen Meyer)
3. Team Composite QC-ON (Francois Chabot, Maxime Vives
Jean-Michel Lachance, Scott Lundy)

Junior Men
1. Team BC 2 (Jacob Schwingboth, Cody Campbell, Kevin Thorpe, Scott Mulder)
2. Team Quebec (Guillaume Charest, Antoine Duchesne, David Boily, Frederic Poisson)
3. Team BC 1 (Curtis Jung, Ben Cowburn, Jason Manning, Evan Flater)

 

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